The Bareness vs. Barreness of Beauty

I was recently taking a look at William J. Harris's poem on Jacob Lawrence. In his book Crooners (2011), the poem is entitled "The Bareness of Beauty," and when he reads the poem during a reading, it is entitled "The Barrenness of Beauty."

When I heard the recording where he said "barrenness," I had already published this blog entry using "The Bareness of Beauty." I assumed that I had misread the title. 

Figuring it out gave me a chance move back and forth from print to audio recording back to print. 

What's cool about the audio recording is that Harris provides a brief introduction to poem, mentioning Lawrence, the Migration series, and the recent exhibit featuring the 60 paintings in the series. 

Related:

• A Notebook on William J. Harris