There is an excellent little book, much of which I disagree with, which points out the most common mistake in communication- I am not you, and you are not me. And we're not even close approximations for eachother! Luckily for everyone, The Usual Error is free online! I am overwhelmed by the eloquence and excellence of At Lake Scugog. Making into space the distance between the concepts and the realities creates an unambiguous and impersonal recognition of subjective wrongs. I may have to get this framed in my room, I like the poem so much.
I'll check The Usual Error thanks.
The author of the poem, Jollimore, teaches in the Philosophy Dept. at California State University - Chico (CSUChico). Looking now at The New Yorker's version I see I left out some italics. I'll have to fix that. I think he'd love to hear from you. I wrote him once when I saw one of his poems on the subway in Toronto. I hope he doesn't mind me copying his poem.