Page 63 - Effable Encounters
P. 63

Lost and Found
                              (Fantastic Transactions 3, 2006)

          “Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.  This is Percy Flodge with
        another segment of ‘Book Tour’ here on public television. Tonight in
        studio with me is Ransom King, one of America’s best-known poets,
        and Demi Baker, his co-author of Lost and Found. Welcome to both
        of you.”
          “Thank you, young man. We’ll be out / Wearing your welcome /
        When these hot house / Lights are dimmed.”
          “Ah—right.”
          “We’re very pleased to share our work with your audience, Percy.
        As  you  know,  this  is  the  first  time  Ransom  has  collaborated  with
        anyone.”
          “That raises a question I’m burning to ask, Ransom: why, after a
        hiatus of ten years following your last collection of poems, Scimitars
        and Scythes, have we seen first Hillbilly Goatsongs and now, little more
        than a year later, this—what shall I call it?—theoretical work on the
        poetic imagination itself?”
          “Flyby time, my boy, for sprung chickens. Don’t look up.”
          “I see. Well, Ms. Baker—may I call you Demi?—thank you—how
        did you come to be part of this project?”
          “Well, Percy, I’d like to say that I was Ransom’s first choice, but
        the truth is less flattering.  When he  first approached  his publisher,
        Proprius  Press,  with  the  book  idea  and  his  notes,  their  editor
        suggested that he work with someone familiar with, shall we say, the
        academic prose style. I am adjunct professor of American literature at
        Joseph  College  and  a  great  fan  of  Ransom’s  work—all  of  it,  an
        important qualification for working on Lost and Found.”
          “I  understand  that  the  ideas  in  this  book  are  somewhat
        controversial,  Ransom.  Do  you  think  they  will  gain  traction  in  the
        intellectual community?”
          “Like tractor tread on road-kill, / Broader than a barn door— /
        Unless you’re Buster Keaton, / A practice of perfection.”
          “If  I  might  interject,  Percy,  we’re  well  aware  that  any  new
        hypothesis with implications as profound as Ransom’s is bound to
        meet some initial resistance.  Our concern is that we won’t get a fair
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