Publisher's Synopsis
Book of the Dactyl is the third of several verse journals I aim to offer, each of them highlighting a "foot" (syllable structure) or line unit largely neglected or under-used in Anglo tradition. A dactyl is simply a three-syllable rhythm unit: STRONG-weak-weak, represented as /xx or - ??. Like the medieval troubadours, I'll be inventive in structuring each musical line and stanza. The entries retain the dates of their composition, showing how my life and art proceed from day to day. Dialogues in verse with poets of other cultures (e.g., Russian, German) and with earlier historical eras (e.g., ancient Greece) play a major role. Readers of my first two verse journals will feel right at home with this one: again we'll sample many instances of a lively new verse form. Part II, though, is a major novelty. Here I conduct an 86-poem dialogue in verse with the 17th century witty mystic Angelus Silesius, an engaging poet with an appealing personality, whose metaphoric insights, expressed with vivid concision, made me want to write lyrical answers to his delightful epigrams immediately after translating them!
