The Acts of the Reappearing Pheasant

On February 17th, 1454, Philippe le Bon, Duke of Burgundy, held the legendary "Feast of the Pheasant," swearing upon the resplendent bird to summon a crusade against the Ottomans. The crusade never left the realm of promise. Yet, the memory of that feast endures-like an epic whose final lines drift just beyond reach, whole in form yet incomplete, for each retelling reflects the restless, reiterative nature of the human condition. Poetry, too, stands at the threshold of fulfillment, chasing after visions that dissolve the moment they come into focus. Wallace Stevens likened poetry to a pheasant disappearing into the brush-flashing its brilliant plumage before scattering beyond sight. In 1991, under Luigi Ballerini's watch, poets and scholars pursued this fleeting bird. Thirty years later, the chase resumed. Some swore they glimpsed the glint of its feathers; others believed it had long since take flight. Still, the search continues, for poetry demands vows no less extravagant than Philippe's. Perhaps it is in the act of seeking that we hold it closest. And so, as chroniclers of this gathering, we lay these acts before you-offering not the bird itself but traces of its passage, like a vow, left for those willing to follow.