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Kicking off tonight, WIP: Saltian! Alice Shapiro’s next book, Saltian, takes as its title the Old English word for “to dance.” The book is loosely based on Shakespeare’s classic monologue from As You Like It, the text of which is given here:
All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first, the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse’s arms.
Then the whining schoolboy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress’ eyebrow. Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honor, sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon’s mouth. And then the justice,
In fair round belly with good capon lined,
With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws and modern instances;
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slippered pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side;
His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank, and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.
Now that you’ve read the passage behind the theme, all you need to do now is read the poems and lend your voice to the conversation. This collaboration aims to bring in as many voices as possible. The collection consists of 7 poems in each of 7 sections (correlated to the stages described by Shakespeare) plus one opening poem and one closing poem for a total of 51 in all. Beginning tonight, each poem will post, along with a critique by a member of the book’s editorial board. Read the poem, read the critique, comment on what you read. You may love the poem and hate the critique. You may hate the poem and love the critique. You may love both or neither. You may think about the poem differently after reading the critique, for better or worse. However you react, write a comment expressing that. If you just know that changing the word “heart” to the word “soul” in line 16 will make the poem perfect, add that as a comment. If you think the poem should be rewritten completely, add that as a comment. All who leave a legitimate comment, whether incorporated into the final work or not, will be named in the acknowledgments and will be given a discount on the purchase price of the final book.
We open the project tonight with a poem from the third section, Lover. The poem is called “The salve of women meeting” and the critique is by KJ Hannah Greenberg. The critique is lengthy (not all of them are) and comprehensive and it covers broad points of the project as well as details within the poem. Read the poem. Read the critique. Comment as the spirit moves you. Thank you for being part of this collaboration.
