Emmett Williams’ ‘Sweethearts’ is a breakthrough. It is concrete poetry as ‘Wuthering Heights’ is to the English novel; as ‘Guernica’ is to modern art. ‘Sweethearts’ is the first large scale lyric masterpiece among the concrete texts, compelling in its emotional scope, readable, a sweetly heartfelt, jokey, crying, laughing, tender expression of love. It moves. Miraculously, the formal limitations of ‘Sweethearts’ enabled Emmett to prove that, with both hands tied behind his back, gagged, just nudging letters out of a regular grid with his nose (look, no mirrors), a real artist can write the Book of Life all over again. — Richard Hamilton