National Poetry Month called
They said they were being ambushed
By professional writers with time on their hands
Needing placement
And expert advice
On how to break through
With the new digital crowd
They like it short and silly
They said
They like it rough
Like your mom
They said
They barely like it at all
They said
Then National Poetry Month reminded me
That this is serious
People are writing about wars
Losing limbs
Babies being choked and tossed into ditches
Families being wrecked by the prison system
And natural disasters that seem to be happening more and more these days
So I reminded them
That Bukowski once said:
"There will always be something to ruin our lives."
And, also:
"It's possible to love a human being if you don't know them too well."
The first one taken out of context, the second, spot on, but you get the point
We wrote inner tornado
We allowed maelstrom to spin and then surface
Then we shot down planes
And ideas
And poets that went to college
And poets that didn't go to college
And poets who didn't have a family fortune to squander
And poets who didn't come from modest means
And poets who weren't middle class with children to care for
Poets not from Africa
Poets who don't name drop other poets in the body of their poems
Poets who don't hang out with other poets
Poets that don't sign books
Poets that don't co-sign car loans
Poets that smoke cheeba
Poets that drink scotch
Poets that drink too much coffee
Poets that scream for attention
Poets that simultaneously want to be left alone
Poets of all shapes and sizes and nationalities and social classes and levels of intelligence
Poets in desperate need of a muse
Poets in desperate need of an Airstream trailer
Poets in desperate need of something to pull their Airstream trailer with
Poets in desperate need
Desperate poets in desperate need of readers desperate for poetry
Any kind of poetry
Besides that which uses a submissions manager
Or a publisher
Or some kind of contrived gimmick
Like smart people on public radio
Or dropping words from planes
Like so many useless pamphlets
For end of days
Like napalm
Or talcum
Or spearmint gum
Or pierced septum poems
We don't like those
--
4.5.13
They said they were being ambushed
By professional writers with time on their hands
Needing placement
And expert advice
On how to break through
With the new digital crowd
They like it short and silly
They said
They like it rough
Like your mom
They said
They barely like it at all
They said
Then National Poetry Month reminded me
That this is serious
People are writing about wars
Losing limbs
Babies being choked and tossed into ditches
Families being wrecked by the prison system
And natural disasters that seem to be happening more and more these days
So I reminded them
That Bukowski once said:
"There will always be something to ruin our lives."
And, also:
"It's possible to love a human being if you don't know them too well."
The first one taken out of context, the second, spot on, but you get the point
We wrote inner tornado
We allowed maelstrom to spin and then surface
Then we shot down planes
And ideas
And poets that went to college
And poets that didn't go to college
And poets who didn't have a family fortune to squander
And poets who didn't come from modest means
And poets who weren't middle class with children to care for
Poets not from Africa
Poets who don't name drop other poets in the body of their poems
Poets who don't hang out with other poets
Poets that don't sign books
Poets that don't co-sign car loans
Poets that smoke cheeba
Poets that drink scotch
Poets that drink too much coffee
Poets that scream for attention
Poets that simultaneously want to be left alone
Poets of all shapes and sizes and nationalities and social classes and levels of intelligence
Poets in desperate need of a muse
Poets in desperate need of an Airstream trailer
Poets in desperate need of something to pull their Airstream trailer with
Poets in desperate need
Desperate poets in desperate need of readers desperate for poetry
Any kind of poetry
Besides that which uses a submissions manager
Or a publisher
Or some kind of contrived gimmick
Like smart people on public radio
Or dropping words from planes
Like so many useless pamphlets
For end of days
Like napalm
Or talcum
Or spearmint gum
Or pierced septum poems
We don't like those
--
4.5.13
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