03-12-2013, 11:09 PM
I've only read his stories and I listened to a few of his poems,
"The Genius of the Crowd" and one about throwing a radio out the window. Girls seem to like him a lot, I always hear them talking about him. Then I looked at his picture, and I felt there was hope yet.
And I think of something like this by David Lerner. I don't know much about him either. But it seems good enough to me. It might not be much, but on certain days, and in certain situations, it says a lot about how poetry and poets just want to be able to live while they can. But seeing that I actually know that he exists, he must have more authority than me. So I quote him.
poetry isn’t literary
poetry isn’t sure which fork to
use
poetry can’t name the parts of speech
fill out a grant application
logroll
poetry doesn’t like cappuccino
poetry doesn’t want to be printed in a
small press edition with its name on the
cover and get reviewed in 2 little magazines
read by 3 people
argued over by 8
poetry doesn’t care about glory
glory is nice but poetry figures it’s
dessert
poetry doesn’t want to get laid
poetry might want to get drunk but
that’s only self defense
poetry doesn’t want to traipse around Europe
and collect stray bits of wisdom
from ruined empires
that it can show like slides when it gets home
poetry has a headache
poetry is a better slingshot
a war you can carry in your pocket
a better way to die
the kind of fire that never goes out
and never gives an inch
poetry wants to be on every street corner
hissing from the cracks in the sidewalks
from the columns of print in the newspapers
on the lips of people on buses going to their
miserable jobs in the morning
poetry wants to be
in the prayers of dogs and the
screams of acrobats
in the terror of politicians
and the dreams of beautiful women
poetry wants to be
an eye through which the world will see itself and
tremble
poetry doesn’t want to
die in the gutter
it already knows how
poetry doesn’t want to sparechange strolling professors
and millionaires
wear anything but blood
have conversations with college students about
the meaning of life
because a bad wind is coming
you can smell it in the air
the pollution of the cities
mixed with the odor of rotting souls
the wind will climb
it will have little sense of humor
it will not want a cappuccino
or reviews
or girlfriends
or anything else
except the death of
everything we love
I've been to lectures before, and I've been listening to some on the Internet. Every time one of the speakers says something like "We have one of the worst education systems among the richest countries..." or something, and that always gets a great applause with all the people smiling and feeling clever. And they pull out the Bush administration, and that gets a round of applause and laughs and smiles. And I've been walking through cities like D.C. when protests or going on, and people are enjoying themselves, and I believe they're happy that dumb shit is always going on. They're happy when they can pounce on something or someone and feel clever and in on something. And people get up and ask questions after the talks, and they use all the big words that nobody uses except for when they're at question and answer sessions. And then I feel clever and amused, and I feel like an asshole, and then go get drunk, because I feel shameful.
"The Genius of the Crowd" and one about throwing a radio out the window. Girls seem to like him a lot, I always hear them talking about him. Then I looked at his picture, and I felt there was hope yet.
And I think of something like this by David Lerner. I don't know much about him either. But it seems good enough to me. It might not be much, but on certain days, and in certain situations, it says a lot about how poetry and poets just want to be able to live while they can. But seeing that I actually know that he exists, he must have more authority than me. So I quote him.
poetry isn’t literary
poetry isn’t sure which fork to
use
poetry can’t name the parts of speech
fill out a grant application
logroll
poetry doesn’t like cappuccino
poetry doesn’t want to be printed in a
small press edition with its name on the
cover and get reviewed in 2 little magazines
read by 3 people
argued over by 8
poetry doesn’t care about glory
glory is nice but poetry figures it’s
dessert
poetry doesn’t want to get laid
poetry might want to get drunk but
that’s only self defense
poetry doesn’t want to traipse around Europe
and collect stray bits of wisdom
from ruined empires
that it can show like slides when it gets home
poetry has a headache
poetry is a better slingshot
a war you can carry in your pocket
a better way to die
the kind of fire that never goes out
and never gives an inch
poetry wants to be on every street corner
hissing from the cracks in the sidewalks
from the columns of print in the newspapers
on the lips of people on buses going to their
miserable jobs in the morning
poetry wants to be
in the prayers of dogs and the
screams of acrobats
in the terror of politicians
and the dreams of beautiful women
poetry wants to be
an eye through which the world will see itself and
tremble
poetry doesn’t want to
die in the gutter
it already knows how
poetry doesn’t want to sparechange strolling professors
and millionaires
wear anything but blood
have conversations with college students about
the meaning of life
because a bad wind is coming
you can smell it in the air
the pollution of the cities
mixed with the odor of rotting souls
the wind will climb
it will have little sense of humor
it will not want a cappuccino
or reviews
or girlfriends
or anything else
except the death of
everything we love
I've been to lectures before, and I've been listening to some on the Internet. Every time one of the speakers says something like "We have one of the worst education systems among the richest countries..." or something, and that always gets a great applause with all the people smiling and feeling clever. And they pull out the Bush administration, and that gets a round of applause and laughs and smiles. And I've been walking through cities like D.C. when protests or going on, and people are enjoying themselves, and I believe they're happy that dumb shit is always going on. They're happy when they can pounce on something or someone and feel clever and in on something. And people get up and ask questions after the talks, and they use all the big words that nobody uses except for when they're at question and answer sessions. And then I feel clever and amused, and I feel like an asshole, and then go get drunk, because I feel shameful.