His culture, discipline, and extraordinary self-confidence:
Whatever doubts he may have had about himself
were rapidly subsumed in his determination
to do the best job possible and to have fun doing it.
He never gave up, never lost his will to play.
(He said his Night Fantasies contained a “choo-choo train.”)
And to win. Playfulness and order, both:
“UN POSTO PER OGNI COSA, OGNI COSA AL SUO POSTO,”
pinned on the wall of his studio.
A marriage of these two contradictory impulses –
could one say “heart and mind”? –
seems to take place in his later work.
One has dominated for long, but bit by bit gives way
to the life-giving source of the other.