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

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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