Oh brother…they gave us such boring books to read.
Fia, thank you for replying to this piece.
j.

ha ha….I don’t even lecture to my classes. All satirical and glad that it could give you a few chuckles. Thanks for letting me know this.
There is truth in this in the fact of me hating Moby Dick with a passion.
j.

Thank you, Damian.
j.

Thank you so much, J. All true, of course; however, in poetry, all readers can see only what they can interpret from their particular viewpoints, their own life experiences, and thus, their “interpretation” is valid only as possible truth, their truth — but actual truth can be diametrically opposite: The muse is the hero: eight years gone, killed by pain, and now, with the HELP of the morphine, is finally the resurrector. Then, of course, the morphine itself must be, and was, vanquished, and the man is back. For now, at least. In a situation like this, nothing is permanent. Try it from that viewpoint.

I already replied, but I keep getting a notification that takes me back to here. So I don’t know if you got what I replied last night, above this.