Read my latest story, "A Tale of Two Birthdays", at 52|250.

Manifesting after Emily Dickinson

—If I can stop one heart from breaking I
will learn to drink salt water & piss it out fresh
will chew aluminum cans into diamonds
                               no one will die to mine or steal
(or steel arms to save you from

—If I can ease one life the aching I
will learn to be ice on your knees
                              & feel warm when moon
is only blurred by clouds

——Help one fainting robin
unto his nest again,
I'll transcribe his song

                      which I'll hear
                 changing every day
                      after even his hatchlings have died

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There has been some talk about greatness in the poetry blogosphere of late in response to a piece in the NYTBR. This is my response:

5 Reasons Not to Talk about Greatness

1.
It is so much less interesting than flaws.

2.
When people see something as beautiful,
ugliness is created.
When people see something as good,
evil is created.
-Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching

3.
The master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house.
-Audre Lorde

4.
If I can stop one heart from breaking,
I shall not live in vain;
If I can ease one life the aching,
Or cool one pain,
Or help one fainting robin
Unto his nest again,
I shall not live in vain.
-Emily Dickinson

 5.
 I fear those big words, Stephen said, which make us so unhappy.
-James Joyce, Ulysses

10 Things I’d Rather Talk about Instead

1. cherry blossoms
2. cats
3. vegan jello
4. my sister’s bichon
5. photography as folk art
6. jellyfish
7. red wine
8. social justice
9. translation
10. poems

While the original article includes some fair points about the smugness and fetishizing tendencies of US po-biz (in which I myself am at times implicated), the driving question is not the one that needs to be asked.

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