I think I am going to write a poem today.
By stating this at the beginning of my poem,
I guess I am pumping myself up, the way poets
Once did when they began their poems
By asking for help from the muses;
This is just a more casual and modern way to do it.
By not only doing it, but explaining why I’m doing it,
Is further proof I’m a modern poet,
Or perhaps I’m not a modern poet—
But this is definitely a modern poem, isn’t it?
And I don’t see how a poet can be anything but modern
If he exists inside a modern poem.
So there it is. I’m trapped. No muses.
Further, the whole preface of the poem, based on
“I think I am going to write a poem today”
(Now I’m quoting myself—is that post-modern?)
Is a preface this poem has no intention of escaping from.
The preface is the poem. Don’t you think that’s true?
I don’t need to invoke a muse. I just want to talk to you.