TO THE CHARNEL GROUND LETTER FROM THE EDITOR: STACY SZYMASZEK: AUGUST 2008 I had to look up the word "Charnel" (spelled "charnal" by the author of the letter). My quick aural interpretation was carnal, carnage, charred - and in fact "charnel" is a repository for or field of bones of the dead. Unlike dramatic metaphors evoked in the love letter genre, the author of this particular letter actually seems to literally be thanking the object of affection for accompanying her/him to "the charnel ground" but follows with a series of disjunctive images that make this 2-line missive unsettling, poetic. It reminded me of Pound's "In a Station of the Metro"! It's not stylistically typical of the letters that follow but I think the connection between love and death (our two big fear factors) serves as a good psychological bass line which often rises up to contort the house and derange the senses. I was really surprised by the presence of ...
Comments