spark notes - how not to read a poem
All narrative poems are conflations
of the things that happened to the poet
and stories told by her mother
when the January nights got to be too much.
Do not be misled by the line,
the poet was drunk when she laid it down.
Dogs find the
classically rigorous poetry
of the early 19th century stifling.
Cats, however, relish the constraints
of the Japanese forms.
A haibun will often soothe their
fears of thunder and wild parsley.
Read poetry on an empty stomach,
to feed your hungry misapprehensions.
If a poem moves you on a Tuesday,
revisit it on a Friday
as the moon rises behind the Nabisco factory;
read it again on Sunday
when you should be in church.
You will not be able to substitute one reading for the other.
Published on The Laundry Line, 14 May, 2025.
