Masterpiece

When you encounter a masterpiece, you know it. That's a problem for aesthetics. What makes the broken lines that Jackson Pollock gestured down onto a painting compelling? We can't say. They point to nothing. They aren't edges.

Last night NBC replayed the opening show of SNL from 40 years ago. One of the singers was Janis Ian performing her song "At Seventeen." I hope I never hear it again--it's crushing--and a masterpiece. Then this morning I got a copy of  Bunny Berrigan's standard, "I Can't Get Started."