“…one must be a seer, make oneself a seer. The poet becomes a seer through a long, immense, and reasoned derangement of the senses. All shapes of love, suffering, madness… he becomes among all men the great patient, the great criminal, the great accursed one – and the supreme Scholar! For he reaches the unknown… So the poet is actually a thief of Fire!”
– Arthur Rimbaud, on being a poet
My NCAA men’s basketball tournament bracket is proving most omniscient. I have correctly picked 7 of the Elite Eight NCAA basketball teams. Yes, I divined the winnings of Florida, Oregon, Kansas, UCLA, Georgetown, Ohio State, and Memphis. My mistake was picking Texas. Never, never vote for Texas.
Last week on the phone, my father accused me of being an intellectual because he read March 14’s post about how I picked Kansas as the champions because of a Truman Capote novel. But I’m not an intellectual. In fact, I am a prophet, seer, and revelator.
I am currently in the top 3 of my office pool of over 90 people. Co-workers are duly awed by my foresight, and I humbly cite my consultation with the New York Times sports page. Still, challenges lay ahead. Kansas must win three more games in order to fulfill my prophesy. They must beat a tough UCLA team tonight, Florida (probably), and (I predict) Georgetown. Go Kansas! Prove my supreme Scholarship in the realm of college basketball!
