To write a poem, one needs to understand
That not for one moment can the reader misunderstand
Anything. Obscure is fine, as long as it doesn’t involve misunderstanding.
The mist can cover.
Hint at anything. Love. A lover.
But let the reader know
That they don’t need to know
The whole story.
Obscurity in poetry can be your whole glory.
Do you think you’re going to run
Things perfectly seen under the sun?
And never write of sunny days. Try
This and the poem will fail
Even if you don’t know why,
And all you love are sunny days.
Writing a poem involves a certain diffident, rueful, essence;
Even poets who are merely average get this;
Sure, you can laugh leading up to a kiss,
But kissing can’t be done at length while laughing;
The same with the poem; be uproarious for any length of time,
And you may have an epic,
Where wholesale slaughter turns the reader on,
As in Homer; but this isn’t the mood for the true poem.
If it’s bold, it must come out of sadness,
Or failure. Avoid the idiot optimism
Which I fell into once, when writing of you,
When we had kissed. And more kisses were due.