Modern, 2

More thinking about the modern:

The modern is the triumph of the individual at the expense of the community, an exaltation of aloneness to the point of not caring about others.

We are now modern to the extent that our society--the way we live with one another and the values we manifest in that living--seems to be a brutal organism of ego and warfare.

You read a poem. You say some lines are beautiful! What do you mean by beautiful? What are you looking for in poetry? (in anything, for that matter?).

I think most poets are looking for community, but community's a mask too.

When the mask decomposes, what's interesting are the bones.

When you feel your lover's bones and you love them as much or more than the flesh that covers them, then you are in love.

I've been reading Montale. He's very clear about what's modern and what's ancient, the difference in each, their bones.