Solving for X


Frederick Morgan
in 2001

On the Hudson Review, whose longtime editor Frederick Morgan died on Friday, Feb. 20, 2004:

“The first issue featured… poetry by Wallace Stevens….” — NY Times 2/23/04

A search on “Wallace Stevens” “Hudson Review” yields a reference to

Jarman, Mark.
“Solving for X:
The Poetry and Prose
of Wallace Stevens.”
The Hudson Review,
51.1 (Fall 1998): 250(7).

A further search on “Mark Jarman” leads to

The Excitement,
by Mark Jarman,
The Hudson Review,
 55th Anniversary Issue,
Spring 2003,

a poem in which X himself makes an appearance:

The years into old age and death
    were set then.
And I have often thought
    about those years.
For this was the peak moment
    in family history,
The Lord come unto Granddad….

We may imagine Granddad as played by the recipient of last night’s Screen Actors Guild lifetime achievement award:

“This is the peak for me.”
— Karl Malden, Feb. 22, 2004