Felix came to mind again the other day: he's the college roommate three decades ago who owned the first waterbed I ever saw. Felix was a Kinks fan, and one of his favorite songs was "Lola". He loved it for its ambiguity: was Lola male or female? The lyrics were inscrutable. Similarly, in Robert Browning's dramatic monologue "My Last Duchess" it's never quite clear what happened to that infamously too-quick-to-smile lady: did the Duke have her murdered? Who can say? That's part of what makes the poem so captivating.

Tuesday, May 22, 2001 at 06:01:09 (EDT) = 2001-05-22

TopicPoetry - TopicPersonalHistory

I think art should function like a funhouse mirror for whoever is perceiving that art. I suspect that makes it good art. –Shae Erisson

(correlates: WakeUpCall, CatchingOn, FoulIsFair, ...)