More important than not seeming pathetic or quaint is not
being so. We are not all mocking singers or foot-
gazing track-makers. The bush is not a cabaret. We
are on better terms with the sky than some. The
long afternoon is not for squandering in hop-hop or
chit-chit. The rhyme scheme is a more or less
elaborate garden to those of us with the concept of
garden. Long; short; major; minor: poetry is not for accumulating
in some imaginary anthology introduced by today’s Auden
To read
a tree is merely effrontery. We may turn for themes. Hunger
mating, deforestation, why not be absolutely modern? Because
history is
eons, not revolt. Mothers are never so other. The meta
may be a scrub bird. Flight! Burrowing! To not be
is a species concern. Sailing through the air, growing into
something else for a time, is not remarkable. Memory is
practice. Let pets debate whether they’re artists or not. Let
zoos truck in loads of authentic dirt to bathe in
A fig on a twig is not a poetic beginning