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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