A Cold Room for the Apprentice. (Original writing)

Through the medium of language, of metaphor and fable, there threads the themes of imagination. This collection renders varying perspectives of imagination from the first stages of its curious inception, ignited by the taste of copper water in Language in a Copper Cup, to a more certain and final resolution, as revealed in The Profit of a Word. With the proposition of imagination assimilated into one's desire to claim some aspect of language for oneself, it is inevitable that one ultimately confronts those familiar ghosts that hover above the pages of the apprentice. Although these voices are a source of inspiration, there exists an element of intimidation. As seen in the character of Edward Boyle, imagination can be stifled by the creativity of others; Edward Boyle is defeated by the very voices that he so admires. "The remainder of the evening will be spent with Prufrock," he says. "Maybe later, maybe tomorrow, I'll muster up the courage to write a few lines myself." And still, imagination lingers. Cloistered in the sails of a passing ship or disguised in the subtle inspirations of a weary Musician, there will always remain fragments of possibility.