Encore with Rectangle and Philosophy

Author: Ron Padgett

Artist: Trevor Winkfield

Publisher: Cuneiform Press (2019)

Encore with Rectangle and Philosophy is the work of a seasoned duo—a meditation on beginnings and ends and what it's all been all about. Whatever gloominess we might expect from such ruminations is deflected by Padgett and Winkfield's characteristic playfulness and grace. It's as if every line of the poem is aware of itself as something that's being felt and written in the moment. Some parts deepen as the poem goes on; others find themselves deflated the next line down. Winkfield's clean, architectural drawings play variations on Padgett's nimbly shifting tones. Padgett says, "I built a house that had ideas in it," and Winkfield reifies the house's geometry, its contraptions, and the echo of departing footsteps. This genial adventure goes beyond the usual categorization of New York School collaboration and into that something known as real life.