The Square Root of Despair

Search

April 02, 2008

The Square Root of Despair

"The specific character of despair is that it is unaware of its despair''

— Kierkegaard

Epigraph to Walker Percy's novel The Moviegoer

--DL

Posted by The Best American Poetry on April 02, 2008 at 11:27 PM in Spontaneous Aphorisms | Permalink

Comments

"Lively and affectionate" Publisher's Weekly. Now in paperback.Click image to order your copy.

Radio

I left it
on when I
left the house
for the pleasure
of coming back
ten hours later
to the greatness
of Teddy Wilson
"After You've Gone"
on the piano
in the corner
of the bedroom
as I enter
in the dark

from New and Selected Poems by David Lehman