Spectra - A Book of Poetic Experiments

With the Essay 'Metrical Regularity' by H. P. Lovecraft

Anne Knish

• Publisher: Ragged Hand - Read & Co.
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9781528717595
• eBook ISBN: 9781528790703
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: American Poetry
• Index: Literature

Arthur Davison Ficke (1883–1945) was an American playwright, poet, and Japanese art expert. One of America's most famous sonnet writers, he was widely regarded as a "poet's poet" and influenced many other poets of his time. First published in 1916, he co-wrote "Spectra" under the pseudonym Anne Knish. Originally written as a farce of a type of then-famous experimental verse, the assortment of odd poetry surprisingly garnered a great deal of attention and ultimately overshadowed Ficke's traditional prose writing. Contents include: "Opus 1 – Drums", "Opus 2 – Hope", "Opus 6 - If I Were Only Dafter", "Opus 7 - A Bunch of Grapes", "Opus 9 - Frogs' Legs on a Plate", "Opus 13 - O Peacock-Feather", "Opus 14 - I Had to Put Out my Leaves", "Opus 15 - Despair Comes", "Opus 16 - The Guillotine", etc. Other notable works by this author include: "From the Isles: A Series of Songs out of Greece" (1907), "The Happy Princess, and Other Poems" (1907), and "Mrs. Morton of Mexico" (1939). Ragged Hand - Read & Co is republishing this collection of classic poetry now in a new edition complete with the essay "Metrical Regularity" by H. P. Lovecraft.

SPECTRA

BY EMANUEL MORGAN

EMANUEL MORGAN

OPUS 1

DRUMS

THEY enter with long trailing of shadowy cloth,

And each with one hand praying in the air,

And the softness of their garments is the grayness of a moth—

The lost and broken night-moth of despair.

And they keep a wounded distance

With following bare feet,

A distance Isadoran—

And the dark moons beat

Their drums.

More desolate than they are Isadora stands,

The blaze of the sun on her grief;

The stars of a willow are in both her hands,

And her heart is the shape of a leaf.

And they come to her for comfort

And her black-thrown hair

Is a harp of consolation

Singing anthems in the air.

With the dark she wrestles, daring alone,

Though their young arms would aid;

Her body wreathes and brightens, never thrown,

Unvanquished, unafraid . . .

Till light comes leaping

On little children's feet,

Comes leaping Isadoran—

And the white stars beat

Their drums.

EMANUEL MORGAN

OPUS 2

HOPE

Is the antelope

Over the hills;

Fear

Is the wounded deer

Bleeding in rills;

Care

Is the heavy bear

Tearing at meat;

Fun

Is the mastodon

Vanished complete . . .

And I am the stag with the golden horn

Waiting till my day is born.

...

Table of contents

• METRICAL REGULARITY
• TO REMY DE GOURMONT
• PREFACE
• SPECTRA
• SPECTRE