In the middle stanzas of “Erotikos Logos,” watching someone else reading, Scott Cairns (Slow Pilgrim, 278) writes,
“So much, of course, depends upon your own
willingness to find something worthy here,
even as you bring – as you must – something
worthy to the effort. So much of what
is worthy wants always to struggle toward
agreeable repose, requires grateful
coupling of a willing one with an also
willing other.”
I hesitate to comment. Commentary will be mere paraphrase, perhaps plagiarism. Still, ticking a few things I like: The need for prior receptivity, a willingness to find something worthy; the reciprocity of reading, the need to bring something worthy; the union of willing ones, a union that requires gratitude; the mutual struggle that leads to post coital repose; the erotic model of reading.
Well, let’s just say: I like everything here.