And because perhaps the scream is the presence <br />Of an ancient word opaque and mute that <br />Suddenly screams that appear to us with <br />The passage of night like a bandage on the sick <br />Arm of a sick man and then let it permeate. <br /> <br />Me like the cold silence the helpless and dead <br />Body of a dead man a broken dream <br />Then a deaf noise blue and numerous <br />A prisoner in the shell of my sleeping ear <br />And my voice that drowns in that sea of fear <br />Ever thinner and more inflames. <br /> <br /> There is much detailed discussion of the institutional manoeuvrings in this famous episode. But it also acts as a very good introduction to the history of the 'poetry network' in which 'avant-garde' or 'experimental' writing is dominant, its present status, and to the actual writerly qualities of the poetry. <br /> <br /> This is the book which acts as the most accessible introduction to avant-garde British poetry, if you don't get too bogged down in the Poetry Society minutes.<br /><br />WILFRED JOHN<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/of-an-ancient-word-opaque/
