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THE POEM REACHES OUT
The poem reaches out. The poet doesn’t care. The poem does what a person in love wouldn’t dare. The poem says precisely, without motive or riot, The secret of the secrets crying in the quiet, Secrets...
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THAT MAKES YOU GREAT
When you are a poet, and a woman, and you run, and you are panting, and you are late. And you apologize, and you smile. That makes you great. When you are a poet, and take the train and admire the...
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FLOWERS OF BLACK
In the old age black was not counted fair—Shakespeare, sonnet 127 I prefer the black flowers to the white. The ink of my poems blends in with the night. I prefer the black of petal and stem Which in...
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HAPPY MOTHERISM
Hillary Clinton supporters are the happiest people in the world. They are professional. They know what is right and they know what is important. The happiest type of person in the whole world is the...
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FEAR AND DESIRE
This thing, desire, makes me sad— Like love, which is afraid, and a fraud, and fails, Failing to do what it takes to be glad. Desire is imaginative and believes the tales Of desire’s success, that...
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CIVILIZATION
We know what civilization is: Routines, friendships, small pleasures. Rusty R. Smith enjoyed a cigarette The way another man would enjoy A thousand virgins. Rusty had the occasional doughnut. Perhaps...
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JUST AND CRUEL
It is better to secretly burn— Than publicly love in return. It is easier to wallow In the whims of love Than deliberately and anxiously follow The cruel love of a just, cruel God above. So the...
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ALONE
I’m thinking alone Is what we always are, but never wish to be. I’m thinking how Strange it was to watch you fall in love with me, As if it always was, but now That we are lovers, you don’t know how....
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IDEALISM
Realism has been the rule in painting, fiction,and poetry since the late 19th century. Idealism has disappeared into Realism’s shadow in the general sweep of secular modernity for over 100 years. What...
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WHAT I SAID BRIEFLY TO YOU
What I said briefly to you Is what you will remember, And what I practiced, long hours in the dark, Will make no impression at all. I worried about my imperfect face, My impetuous, nerdy voice, But...
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FOR B AND A
They say women are crazy, and that’s why heartbreaks occur: She’s not leaving you—she’s leaving you leaving her. I loved her when I could, and this is when she left; My heart was full—shocked to find...
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THE WORST POEMS ARE READ
The worst poems are publicly read. The best ones are read later Secretly, with surprise, As if the best were hidden for your eyes. You found them in the volume published in a hurry; The publisher,...
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CHUMKI SHARMA OF CALCUTTA IS MARCH MADNESS CHAMPION!
AFTER EVERY RAIN I LEAVE THE PLACE FOR SOMETHING CALLED HOME WHO MADE ME FEEL BY FEELING NOTHING I WISH YOU WERE JUST YOU IN MY DREAMS THE LARKS CRY OUT AND NOT WITH MUSIC This is the FINAL FOUR,...
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THE POET HAS NO GODDAMN IDEA
The poet has been crowned for days and nights And all songs and all singing delights And all movies and all night stills, And all night pools, and the perfumed hills. The rock songs and the rock...
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WHAT YOU LOVED FOR AN INSTANT
What you loved for an instant Was the slightly excited way her mouth opened when she smiled, The symmetrical perfection of the features, The healthy beauty of hair and skin, the intelligence You...
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A LOVE THAT LOVES IS THE LOVE THAT’S NOT AFRAID
She made such declarations when she was dying. I found out how much she loved me in the crying, In crying that wet her face with waters of torrential rain. She loved me, dying, in pain. She confessed...
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SOME CRITICAL OBSERVATIONS
We have nothing against line breaks. But line breaks do not substitute for punctuation. And lack of punctuation is not poetic. Criticism is not about brainwashing or bullying. That’s brainwashing and...
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THESE GROVES
These groves are quiet Where my lover in a purple cloud lies down. Unhappy shadows riot. Her hair is black, her skin, Bengali brown. Religious crowds have not been fed, Religious colors are a bright,...
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NEVER LET NATURE TELL YOU WHAT TO DO
Never let nature tell you what to do. Nature takes one and turns it into two. Nature hates the single mind Unless it is a poet’s—who is blind. Nature loves the many and hates the few. Cruelty,...
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FOR ME
Suicide is suicide. I’ve contemplated suicide for weeks. But suicide is suicide. Poetry is what my poetry seeks. Clean is clean. Ignorance is not only ignorance, it reeks. Socrates is Socrates. Poetry...
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