Relations (Bellow)

But there's no having any relations with people; none at all, if you won't accept abuse.

Saul Bellow, More Die of Heartbreak

The only way

The only way you can find yourself is by being yourself.

New poems

+15

Attempts (Bachelard)

Imagination attempts to have a future.

Gaston Bachelard, The Poetics of Reverie

Most

Perspective and proportion
comprise most of your lessons.

With everything (James)

Possibly there is such a thing as being so concerned with the self that one loses sight of the poet's privileged duty, which is to be concerned with everything, in the hope of producing something—a poem, a stanza, even a single line—that will live on its own, in its own time.

Clive James

C&C

Chance and choice, choice and chance—
what a dance!

In spite of (Bachelard)

How can a man become a poet in spite of life?

Gaston Bachelard, The Poetics of Reverie

Advice

Never say "I believe."
Say "I think."
And then do so.

New poems

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On tragedy

Tragedy is incompatible with inevitability.

More convincing (Mandelstam)

To be—that is the artist's greatest pride.  He desires no other paradise than existence, and when he hears talk of reality he only smiles bitterly, for he knows the endlessly more convincing reality of art.

Osip Mandelstam, The Morning of Acmeism

streetcake magazine

streetcake magazine has now published (already!) my poem "Words 3" in Issue 56, which came out today. The whole issue consists of five poems by five poets, so it's easy to carve out enough time in your schedule today to read the whole thing—which I recommend doing.

VD poetry

David Lehman chose my poem "The Tumble" as one to highlight on this week's Next Line, Please feature at The American Scholar website (he picked one last week as well). It's always great to be recognized there among all the stimulating work, and even more so this week, as I was particularly pleased with the way this poem came together.

New poems

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We will

We will make meaning.
At any cost.

The world

The world was born of passion mating with dispassion.

Spotted in the yard this morning

Why

Why is the direct descendant of how.

Perspective (Doctorow)

Anything invented before you were eighteen was there all along. Anything invented before you're thirty is exciting and will change the world forever. Anything invented after that is an abomination and should be banned.

Cory Doctorow, Walkaway

"Words 3"

streetcake magazine has accepted my poem "Words 3" and will be publishing it in their next issue. Given the interesting and thought-provoking work that they publish, I am very pleased to have one of my poems included.

New poems

+15

The last freedom

The last freedom is not to imagine yourself loved but to imagine you love.

Of loss (Reed)

In the age of loss there is
the dream of loss
in which, of course, I

am alive at the center—

Justin Phillip Reed, from "About the Bees"