Diego Isaias Hernández Méndez, Convertiendse en Characoteles / Sorcerers Changing into Their Animal Forms (detail), 2013, oil on canvas. Arte Maya Tz’utujil Collection.
Periplum
The notion that the land gave us flying,
you said, or conceivably flying made us
aware of the notion of land, was your most recent
attempt to strike a lasting chord. Of course,
this exposed our admiration for the hard-hatted surveyor
wide-eyeing a dumpy level. There is in me someone
who would rather fall out a window, Buster Keaton-like,
and come up important like a tripod. Gurdjieff nearly
cried for collaboration. We both pointed to his
eminently readable mustache; graspable yet airborne.
Major Jackson is the Richard Dennis Green and Gold Professor at the University of Vermont. He is the author of three volumes of poetry: Leaving Saturn, Hoops, and this year’s Holding Company (W. W. Norton & Co.). (updated 4/2010)