Although I’m Dust

[nibbed]

I like it better now, too. It looks neater.
I'm weird about forms being squared,
having stray lines that go too far beyond the margins of other lines, like this one (unless there's purpose, like this one).
I searched terms for a better way to tell you,
but I couldn't find it. I like this better.


-nibbed

i see. i’m almost the opposite to that. i like poems that look a bit all over the place (i’m a bit all over the place, so maybe that’s why). neat narrow-columned poems often look fake or twee and provincial, to me (not that i haven’t or don’t do it—i’m nothing if not inconsistent). 
you say you don’t like lines to stray past the margins of other lines unless for a purpose; but, the real trick for me is finding a purpose for keeping any of the lines within a margin, in the first place. if it’s simply to make it look neat—or, worse, like a poem—then i can live without it. 
also, i think poetry is, by its nature, somewhat contrived and theatrical and unnatural. so i often like to use the whole stage and push it as far as possible, rather than hiding the artifice behind slightly more acceptable artifice. i don’t know. something like that. 
but, i don’t mind keeping this one tidy. it seems to suit it.

anyway, thanks for reading it and taking the time to comment (both times). and sorry if my previous comment was a bit sarcastic, but remember “only the mediocre are always at their best... an’ that ain’t us”. 

Hare Krishna

Hi, Shem


You're right. I got in trouble for not keeping neat margins in grade school.
I kept flunking out at it, even with that faint margin line provided on the paper.
I was over-trained! It's okay you got sarcastic, sometimes I take things wrong.
I have even believed The Onion stuff, before I realized it was satire.


-nibbed