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POETS, STOP WRITING ON LOVE AND WAR
You are heroes navigating traffic, waiting for the bus, heaving plant soil in the Home Depot, talking to victims of freak accidents on shuttles, a camera man filming the Pops on July 4th came crashing...
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AFTER IT REPEATS, IT NEVER REPEATS AGAIN
Everyone wants what keeps repeating:Warmth and light in the middle of the night,Films which play for free and there’s always seating.I will be immortal, but I don’t know when.What is the soul?After it...
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WEEPING, UNABLE TO FINISH DOVER BEACH
When, in beauty, we grasp the world,it is always the beauty of the sea.All poets sound the same singing of the ocean.Reading from a volume aloud, Melville, Tennyson, Marianne Moore.It was all the same...
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POLITICAL IMBECILITY
Political imbecility is very easy to explain. Two things are involved: facts and emotion. In every issue (inevitably complex) not all the facts are available (for instance, we think C02 is bad, when...
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MACHINERY ALWAYS WINS
There is only one behavior which triumphs. It begins with unemotional poetry which becomes habitual in the questioner. The goal is simple. Do things faster. Destinations are laid out for us in their...
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I WOULD USE WORDS
I would use words more magnificent to make my poems more magnificent, why shouldn’t I? But not words she wouldn’t understand, I’d rather die! The shiny satin of a La Belle Epoque duchess. A cello, an...
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KNOWING WHAT EVERYONE KNOWS
Knowing what everyone knows makes us sad: The death of all of us; waiting for that. And the knowledge that knowledge, therefore, is bad. Give me the advantageous secret! Secret knowledge is the only...
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THE BEAUTIFUL IS NOT HUMAN
The beautiful is not human.For some humans, this is OK.A simple bench. I sat facing the harborin the early part of a spring day. A mile, or two, to the other shore.I was a statue (with only my neck...
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JERK
The impulse to be a rhyming jerk, Rosalinda, was the beginning of my literary work. The noble sighing of a Shakespeare play startled the day within my day and made my long night linguistic, turning...
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THE POET IS SECRETLY A NOVELIST
I can't believe I notice I do this. A poem I'll write raises questions,failing because it has too much to say---which forces me to write another.I write three poems a daywhich fail in their own unique...
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I DON’T KNOW WHAT IT MEANS
Why do they look to poetsto say what it means?I have no idea what anything is,except nostalgic, hidden feelingswhich occasionally use loveto say with bad poetry what my life was.Not only that, the...
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MADNESS AND SANITY
The soul is the human placewhere madness and sanity coexist.Who doesn't need madness? We all do.Especially the child who learns for the first time---do you remember when you found out?---all the...
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THE SAME INTELLIGENCE
The same intelligence, contemplating stupid things or marvelous things, is either stupid or marvelous. I am not smarter than her, but exiled here among rivers and mountains I construct happiness in...
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SLEEP LIKELY TO CONTINUE
The chorus of voices haven’t had a real conversation in years. When I was a kid, I preferred zoos to museums and coarse talk to operas. but I matured—is that the right word?— and prefer slightly...
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IF IT’S GOING IT’S ALREADY GONE
Whenever you see it approaching,time to cover up your lawn.Inspiration doesn’t work like that.If it’s going it’s already gone. This poem is really hopeless.It was years ago when I turned her on.I knew...
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WHERE’S WALDO?
The longer a civilization successfully flourishes,the more imbeciles—working within structuresbuilt up over time by the geniuses—can flourish.It was no surprise to me, then,to read the study showing...
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WHEN THIS IS BAD, GOD IS NOT WRONG
When this is bad, God is not wrong—this has little to do with belief in a deity.Rather, it denotes my philosophy.This means I explain the imperfect and the partialwith arguments philosophical and...
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MY MUSE CAME TO ME IN THE EARLY EVENING
My muse came to me in the early evening.I was alone. The day had been a festival in Maywhere I had seen many friends.My muse told memy poetry must say what poetry is. Her argument was this:“God and...
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NOTHING IS GOOD OR HAPPY
Nothing is good or happy.Tomorrow (or in five minutes)our happiness ends. Poetryis all we have. Nothing is good or happy.But in your dream, wasn't the fear therefalse? It was. Your dream's worrywas...
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IMAGERY
Bored and ready to kill,lacking a ready and practical will,society invented poetry,the kind refined and beautiful,which society shares peacefully.Our best families have done it for five hundred...
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MODERNISM
The authorized personnel of poetrywere inclined to both over-estimateand under-estimate, poetry.Loose or stuffy,for all the wrong reasonsthey thought poetry was pretty cool.For many of them, love...
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POETRY V PAINTING
Leonardo Da Vinci, in his notebooks, argues quite strongly and convincingly that painting is superior to poetry, that painting is a partner to “astronomy” whereas poetry is “hearsay.” As a poet, I...
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THE HAIKU HOBBY
The Imagists. Their poetry was a kind of faddish, little magazine, failure, propped up by the New Critics so that it got into college syllabi, but still, finally, a failure, boring the public. Pound’s...
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PALACE SHRINE
Here is a palace shrine—for a woman almost divine.She wasn’t quite divine—that’s why she needed a palace shrine.Gods live in the surrounding wood,wholly hidden and wholly good.She was adept at kisses...
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WAR GAMES
When I was a child, I wasmesmerized by war games,hours to learn, hours to play.The design! The colors!And after the war was over,I put the game away. I would lie on my bedroom floor,protected and...
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WHEN THE LOSERS LOSE
When the losers lose,as they inevitably will,not one shouting, triumphant hillor small street will explode with joy.Wisdom knows wisdom has already won.There is no victory to anticipate,no banquet, no...
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THE SALEM POETRY FESTIVAL: POLITICS, POLITICS, POLITICS
Salem and its custom house where Hawthorne worked. It took no notice of the recent book festival. Poetry has a very strange fan base in the 21st century—they have decided poetry is a form of advice, a...
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POETRY SHOULD NEVER CROSS THAT LINE
Poetry should never talk to you. It should never cross that line.There is an ancient quarrel between the self and everyone else.Poetry should always address the reader, even if it uses “you.”One can...
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WE TEND TO BE WRONG ABOUT EVERYTHING
He was not a warm father, he was an advice father.When he gave birthday or Christmas gifts, it was always what he liked and it would be good for you if you liked it.He had a temper and would...
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IS AI LITERARY INSIGHT A HUGE FAIL?
Recently a poet from London has published on his FB feed lengthy conversations with ChatGPT. I’ll simply copy an example below—with Scarriet’s much briefer response: The other morning on Haverstock...
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YOU’RE NOT BEAUTIFUL ENOUGH TO BE LOVED
You’re not beautiful enough to be loved. Why is this considered controversial? Because many know it’s true— and don’t want to believe it. I can’t read poetry by you. Full of spiritual advice, rich in...
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POETS HATE WHAT WORDS CAN DO
It is said we are not in control.Even the good soul is not in controlof his soul. Going over his thoughts,writing things down, planning,discussing the plan with others,waiting patiently and finally,...
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YOUR DEATH TO AMERICA CULT
Seniors, who now dominate the internet platformstarted by the nerd who ranked the looks of women in their college photos, can join,monogamous, monotheistic, Muslims, retired CIA officerswho served in...
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SCANDALS
Poems will not provide details of scandals. I won’t tell you here the reason I am hated. Add but her name. The frank poem is obliterated. Poems can’t handle the meaner stuff. Most don’t like poetry. I...
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THEIR WEAKNESS IS WHAT WE LOVED
They could not compose. They had to practice for hours. We applauded wildly their piano performance. The poet who took us to Paris inspired by Valery’s haunting remark first made a detailed list of...
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WHEN I EXPLAINED MYSELF TOO MUCH I WAS HATED
When I explained myself too much I was hated.I worked in the mines and made songs.They dressed me up magnificentlyAnd mysteriously and joyfully I succeeded.I was invited. They disrobed. Explanation...
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A DESPAIRING POET
A despairing poet contemplates the psychology of those who rule the world.I’m guessing it would be highly misanthropic,delighting in a mesmerizing calm.Who hasn’t sat at the edge of the universe,maybe...
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I VOTED
The only thing people secretly vote for is free stuff. They may talk a different game, but free stuff is really all there is for the voter. That’s what everyone, no matter how noble they appear,...
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LOYALTY TO THE PARTY
In the old country there were two political parties.I belonged to the one which didn't believein political parties. A plain person,who liked hot dogs, humor in good taste,magazine articles on...
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YOU DIDN’T MAKE IT
You didn’t make it. You escaped into a prison. The pigeons are inside your mask, not trapped inside the train station. Your identity is not yours. The family is blending into the city and becoming a...
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THE POLITICS OF NO POLITICS
“They’re all crazy.” –Old saying The politics of no politics makes me laugh every day. We look at politics all wrong. The best way to avoid hateful politics is to be politically united— but not based...
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I FOUND A POEM AMONG MY POEMS
I found a poem among my poems which avoided my usual solipsism which is manifested here. All my poems block out memory. When I look at them again, they say, “Aren’t you coming in?” I read them all the...
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ZOOM OUT, ZOOM IN
Which is more embarrassing? To zoom out or zoom in?What's worse? Outward embarrassment, or the inner secrets, of sin?Zoom out, you see muscles, a thick head of hair.But zoom in, past the pores, and...
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THE 1812 OVERTURE
Americans celebrate their nation’s birthday with a beautiful military song, Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture. To those who don’t know their history: Crazy, revolutionized, France, in a brutal invasion in...
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IT’S YOUR NAME NOT YOUR FAME
The right wing lefty media allows you to know glaciers melted once, duevery partially to human productivity, very partially responsible for natural, necessary CO2,which nonetheless makes you guilty....
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THEY WHO DO DON’T SAY
Bent over the loud lawnmower, what you said last week is completely forgotten. The smallest and the mightiest don’t say a word. I left it in the shadows. I gestured to it when you arrived. The most...
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THE CHASM BETWEEN POETRY AND MUSIC
A Facebook friend informed me, in a panic, he couldn’t access Robert Penn Warren’s essay “Pure and Impure Poetry.” It’s on Jstor. I found it in Praising It New: The Best of the New Criticism, Editor...
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THE STUPID ARE METAPHORICALLY TRUE
Poetry had bored you. You found the non-poetic could do the poetic just as well.Inexpressible feelings you had were fine.Fear was fast; you didn’t need an elaborate description of hell. You were too...
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THE ONLY TWO LOVERS IN SALEM
He is racist towards himself in his mind.Infection infects us.We see color the more others insist, “I am color blind.”Reverse psychology is a powerful thing.My favorite artist wrote terrible songs.And...
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PRETTY IN THE SAME WAY
Funny, how the genius of beauty makes us mad, yet every day I notice her, and her, and her, pretty in the same way. There is nothing unique. Nothing unique will stay. She will make him notice her!...
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