from The Selected Letters of John Cage
Cage’s thinking was expressing increasingly clear ideas
Cage’s circle of intellectual interests widened
Cage proudly reports Cage’s first literary engagement
Cage’s politically prescient work, Cage’s only known letter, created a second
Cage succeeded on behalf of others, didn’t like telling others what to do
Cage’s mature works did not originate in psychology
Cage’s various musical pursuits came together, Cage performed
Cage suffered two personal losses, created visual art work
Cage at his most cheerful is at his most playful
Cage wrote to people at length, almost always replied
Cage enthusiastically admits to his own inconsistencies
Cage’s work was also changing, Cage was cleaning house
Cage’s intellectual life entered a new phase in academic residence
Cage developed complex rules for world improvement
Cage shared his experiences, provided a few stories for translation
Cage conceived Cage’s interest in mushrooms, also wrote and published
Cage earnestly loved Cage, continued to seek financial assistance
Cage made clear his enormous enthusiasm, was emboldened
Cage performed elsewhere, gave an explosive percussion concert
Cage managed to conduct an exhaustive search, visited Giacometti and Brancusi
Cage enjoyed quiet, was dreading time away from home
Cage’s pursuit of a musical career is mostly mute
Cage set a steady if meandering course over some six decades
Cage’s Diary is a mosaic of escalating unrest and a lot of chess
Cage was beginning to understand Cage had begun to deteriorate
Cage made clear his enormous enthusiasm for turning away
© Rupert M Loydell