of the story
belong in poetry
but not the story itself
still merely a mood
on the horizon while
meanwhile poetry
was already ancient
and full of itself
long before it became
even remotely personal
or the bearer of dead
and living love
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
I like the way you give a reminder here of the original form poetry took, before commodification, before it became personal property and (potential) wealth. I suppose some would argue the development was of a piece with capitalism or this or that revolution. If I try to think of John Donne, say, thinking about his poetry the way contemporary poets seem to think about theirs (judging only by the way they talk in, say, interviews) I find we are worlds away from what poetry was. But then I picked someone who was really fighting a spiritual battle. I'm sure there were thousands of court poets who were using poetry exactly the way a poet who treats his or her poetry as merely an asset like capital would. Was it horrible Ezra who said the thing about it not mattering who was writing the great poetry, just that it was being written? Some people are born generous, I suppose, most have to be smashed into a billion pieces to get there. Okay, maybe a half.
Post a Comment