Et cetera

Message in a bottle

Paul Celan once described a poem as "a letter in a bottle thrown to sea with the-surely not always strong-hope that it may somehow wash up somewhere, perhaps on the shoreline of the heart." Osip Mandelstam likened the poet to "the shipwrecked sailor who throws a sealed bottle into the sea at a critical moment," and a poem to a "testament of the deceased" that will find "its s (...)


 

The remainder of this article is only available to paid subscribers. If you’re not currently a Commonweal subscriber in print or online, an online-only subscription costs just $34 a year. Click here for immediate access

 

[register as a new user] [forgot your password?]

Free e-newsletter

More Information