On Writing

Poetic Measures of Illumination in a Time of Calamity


When writing of love in a time of calamity
keep a sure method of squirming out of it nearby

When pondering your relationship with the
universe keep in mind that God isn't in play

When probing your childhood you best leave
out the tantrums you once felt in your bones

When tackling politics in an age of unreason
allow for the possibility that everyone is stupid

When musing in a coffee shop know that your real
purpose is to create jobs for the underemployed

When scribbling profundities that first appear
lucid allow that they may be poor replicants

When researching the lives of the poets consider
they may all be drunks and highly refined assholes

When printing out the pages of your best poems be
clear that Whitman and Melville died penniless

When drinking while writing know that your best
edits await you in the doctor's office next year

When considering your choice between a rhyming
word and a destructive one choose the latter

When sitting at your writing table causes despair
move to your drawing table and reinvent yourself

When choosing a theme for your next masterpiece
avoid religion unless you want to be a known sap

When composing an anti-war poem do not pretend
that a killer is not weighing his next victim just then

When strolling to your university poetry writing
class inspect the insitution's military contracts

When measuring your words and lines in poetic
sequence understand beauty is the life of poetry

When writing in a time of calamity believe for
one  transcendent moment in pity and hilarity


TS