When you see my poem--- some combination of light and dark--- what do you need to know about its environment to know how real it is and how much it deserves fame? You haven't seen any advertisements. You don't know my credentials or my name. The estate is still in the courts and my friends and my age and how I dress and the sound of my voice are completely unknown. A poem has one advantage. Its creation and its consumption are the same. A stranger marks (reads) what a stranger marks (writes.) A day illuminates a day covered by a thousand nights. There is no imitation. No tickets. No interpretation. No grounded flights. A poem fits perfectly into whatever you are. You saw me. You didn't travel far. Dangerous but safe, Willie climbs into Sally's car. They both have no opinion. There is you. And above the earth, a lone, forgotten star.
