An idea I just got from reading (my poem) "The Tower of Babel." Describe what is desired from the poem but which can't possiby exist yet, due to current conditions. Why these things are desirable, and why they are incommensurate now. I've learned that naming such ventures beforehand can be lethal, by giving the poem a pseudo-existence- a sort of aritificial seed-reality which, if it does not very soon receive the right amount of water and light (and other intangibles) will have such brief existence as to have virtually none at all. I love Debussy's description of Bach before he dies. This is a most touching late confirmation of his artistic beliefs and the letter of Chou-Chou (his daughter) that ends the book sounds so much like her father's "voice" in his letters. (8/21/90)