The ebb begins from dream

Went out and spent some birthday money yesterday on a new headset mic. My old one suddenly stopped working for no obvious reason (tho I might've frigged up the cord by squashing it under the foot of my chair). Anyway, thought I'd try out the new hardware by recording a poem by Earle Birney. Finally, after way too long, a collection of Birney poems is back in print. One Muddy Hand is the first selected of Birney published since 1977. This is one of the most important literary figures of the last century in this country! I've got some reservations about the book as a whole (which you'll be able to read about in the next issue of Arc, where my review of it will appear), mostly the editorial side of things, but Birney left us some terrific poems, many of which are included in OMH. "The ebb begins from dream" (scroll to page 13 of the linked PDF for an early version of this poem, which gives an idea of what a restless reviser Birney was of his own poems) is one of them. Hear me read it here.