The title Entropvisions is in homage to my mother, the poet and art critic, Harriet Zinnes. In 1990 New Directions published a collection of her poems titled Entropisms, a word she made-up combining entropy - the tendency toward disorder - and tropism - the growth towards or away from a stimulus. Similarly, my short reviews combine entropy and tropism by suggesting growth towards a vision of art from the chaos of the art world. Through the back door, my title also pays homage to my physicist father, Irving Zinnes, whose long discussions with my mom got her thinking about entropy and tropism in the first place.
Another
great is gone. He was clear-thinking until the end, publishing his last
book just last year at age 100. I remember watching a recent video of
him a few months ago, and was amazed at his youthful energy, clarity,
strength and of course his ever-present belief in poetry and art. Please read the NY Times obituary.