Untitled, by Joseph Cornell

This morning’s reading: an Octavio Paz poem, translated by Elizabeth Bishop. ‘Objects & Apparitions, For Joseph Cornell.’ Here’s a pair of stanzas to whet the appetite: ‘“One has to commit a painting,” said Degas,
“the way one commits a crime.” But you constructed
boxes where things hurry away from their names. Slot machine of visions,
condensation flask for conversations,
hotel of crickets and constellations.’ Untitled (13 1/8 x 10 x 3 1/2 in; private collection), by Joseph Cornell, 1942