CARSON'S CONCENTRATION in her early writing was not on poetry as is often the case with beginners. She began with plays and a novel and although all of her fiction is musical and poetic, she did not write poetry as such until she was a well-established author. In later years, she liked to have her manuscript in progress read aloud, partially because her vision was more affected by the strokes than she let on and reading was difficult for her, but also, I think, because she listened for the rhythm and the cadence of the language—the sound as well as the meaning of the words.
Although Carson did publish Sweet as a Vickie, Clean as a Pig, a collection of verse for children which she thoroughly enjoyed writing, she published little of her other poetry. What she did publish or record is collected here. Much of what remains in her files is unfinished—that is, there are often several versions of the same poem or handwritten manuscripts that are unclear.
Carson always liked to share her poems on a personal level. "The Dual Angel," which was written in France in 1951, was sent out as her Christmas card that year. She often recited poems for her friends in her soft voice. At the M-G-M recording she recited from memory, as usual, and somehow left out four lines of "Saraband," which on the record is titled "Select Your Sorrows If You Can."
About her poetry, I remember best one evening at a university lecture. After she had recited "Stone Is Not Stone" in her gentle Southern voice, there was a long silence. Then suddenly a young student stood up and said, "Mrs. McCullers, I love you."