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WHAT IS MADNESS
Madness is caused by too much goodness. When I was bad, I relaxed and loved. Too much goodness is madness. The thesis may be difficult to prove, But it’s true: sanity is when you don’t give a fuck:...
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GOD
God, you must be hiding a lover somewhere. God, tell me the truth, I’m in despair, Tell me, tell me, what did you create? The human? I am one. But look at this template. I thought the human was the...
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OWNED
The artist wants to own what he sees, The poet wants to own what he hears, Like I wanted to own you, You, and all your fears. But the painter and the poet find There is too much to own—none of it will...
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WIT FOR FLUTE AND ORCHESTRA
Wit’s relationship with me Is my relationship with you In poetry; this is what poetry Is; this defines what I do. Poetry I do all alone, But with it, I can play any tone. I can be more myself with it...
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ONE HUNDRED GREATEST SONGS TO SINK INTO
Most of these songs are popular; ideally, they would be obscure and new to you, but you probably know most of them; but here they are, a type of song, defined by…”sink into.” The criterion is...
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NOW, FROM THIS ISLAND
Now, from this island, I see where I was wrong. I thought there was an ocean. I believed storms on this ocean were strong. Rocks and paths were hidden—double Uncertainties of blue mist appeared like...
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WE ARE ONE
We are one; love’s impossible; We never let anyone into our circle; The circle of the self is immaculate, inviolate— You cannot enter it. Why did I think there could be love? My whole life I searched...
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MAKE JOHN CROWE RANSOM GREAT AGAIN
Helen Vendler’s review of Ben Mazer’s The Collected Poems of John Crowe Ransom (Un-Gyve Press, 2015) in the New York Review of Books last year did not start a Ransom revival. Our nation’s humiliated...
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TO OUR TRYST
To our tryst be quick, For you seem to be in love, And I am love-sick. To our tryst don’t be slow, You sense already What I don’t know. To our tryst be fast, You seem to understand Trysts won’t last....
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THE SHADE
This towering tree creates a thick, deep shade So one thinks gloom is a thing God made. Underneath this gargantuan tree Cool spring days fade quietly Where lilacs and ferns sit around A small stream...
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YOU BETTER GIVE THAT TO ME
You have been working hard and making money And the rabbits are running in your flowers As dandelions droop here and there and the hours Fall as they always fall when shadows cover the hill And the...
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ODE TO A THING
Houses are comfortable and comforting. Things have their uses, But I love her because she looks like a witch. I look forward to her abuses. People are cruelly physical And not theoretical at all. She...
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I HEAR THESE SOUNDS WHEN THESE SOUNDS STOP
I hear these sounds when these sounds stop. When the shouting ends I hear these soft voices drop. When you begin to love and no longer pretend, All doubts in the woods and mountains will end. The hawk...
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HE’S NAIVE, AND THAT’S GOOD
He’s naive about drinking And that’s good, He’s naive about drugs And that’s good. Monks are wise from ignorance. You can’t say how much good divinity brings When you are ignorant of all bad things....
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LONG LIVE THE KING (HE SMOTE THE SLEDDED ON THE ICE)
When pictures, noble, inspiring wonder and fear, Swim into your sight, but do not respond when you speak to them, These, like movies and books, are dead, like ghosts, their nobility A rumor, a shadow,...
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SO MUCH POETRY
Poetry overpowers the weak— So they will never read poetry again. Poetry even kills poetry when poetry attempts to speak In a valley with eleven hundred starving men, And the wind starts up, to make...
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POETRY IS THE SOUNDTRACK
Poetry is the soundtrack to this sea of prose, The noise made in the boat. You better get one of those. Stupidity is silent and hasn’t made a sound Since it grew so heavy it can’t get around. Thought...
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WHEN I’M NOT THERE IT’S YOU WHO STARE
You go to me, as if I’m there, Though I’m not—but aren’t I always there? Seeing the flowers, even when flowery love’s not there? The flowers are there because you are aware. When I do not, it’s you...
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NOW THAT I’M GONE
Now that I’m gone, She can go to a beauty salon. She can try a dress on When she goes to a store. She can pick out wines And buy wine, and buy more Than when I was there, And she can be at ease when...
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I COULDN’T UNDERSTAND
I couldn’t understand why our love had to die. Mystery unsolvable! You loved me Madly even as you said goodbye. I had to know the answer to the mystery. Love is not a part of life, but everything, and...
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