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Dancing with Paranoia While this is the second poem in the cycle, it was not the second one I wrote: Clay and Silver was the second written, and the second one I showed to its subject. The poem was originally part of "The Conversation," and was the last poem in the cycle to be completely finished. After showing him "The Potter" and "Clay and Silver" (I was still in his design class), John Chalke told this little story to Bill Laing (who'd popped over from his class next door) and me. So, like all my poems, Gambit is true (right down to the details of the postmen). It was told simply as an amusing story, but no doubt contained a subtle warning as well. When I recently re-read Dorothea Brande's book, Wake Up and Live!, I found a quote I hadn't remembered, from Meredith, giving exactly the feeling I meant at end of this poem: "It is the silence of the god we fear, not his wrath; Silence is the unbearable repartee." |
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