The Sealey Challenge, Day Twenty: The Ginkgo Light

 

 I once saw Arthur Sze read (briefly, at AWP). But I've never really read his work before now. I feel as though someone has spread card after card of thought-provoking images on a table before me to consider. Quite a vocabulary building read, as well.

He writes these matter-of-fact observations, often seemingly tangential or even random, line after line. Light on metaphor, heavy on imagery and the natural world and philosophical tone. It felt a bit like walking through a museum or a botanical garden, in parts. Probably best read slowly and in small pieces. 

That, I've found, is the downside to this challenge. Not much time to sink into a volume and savor it, especially when I've already dedicated 10 to 12 hours of my waking day to commuting, working, exercising, writing, and sending poems out into the Land of Pending.