XXVIII/4 Bertran de Born holds high his severed head in the midst of fractured wreckage of an imposing edifice, a house divided. Haunting this picture are my memories of houses ripped open by the Blitz. The structure is collaged from fragments illustrating many different kinds of building belonging to different social orders (the Schism of Class via palace and tenement) as well as places of worship of various kinds indicating religious factionalism. The smashing of what was once a unity is asserted by the identical pillars on either side of the riven entranceway. The text echoes Dante's image of the head held like a lamp to underline the implication that Bertran, a poet, should have illuminated the world with his intellect and eloquence instead of bringing it into deeper darkness. There is also a reminiscence in the image as a whole of the final vision of the Fall of the House of Usher. -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.