One Hundred Ninety-Two

Posted on July 11, 2015 by John Swinburn

I have a hard time trusting people who claim to dislike poetry.  Either they are lying to themselves or they are lying to me. Poetry is emotion given the gift of language; you just can’t dislike that unless you carry the same animus toward love and charity.

About John Swinburn

"Love not what you are but what you may become."― Miguel de Cervantes
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2 Responses to One Hundred Ninety-Two

  1. John Swinburn says:
    July 11, 2015 at 1:43 pm

    I hope you’re right, Juan. But even Ginsberg’s poetry is treated like work by some people; it’s too introspective and unapologetic to sway people who think poetry is unnecessary hard work when a soft romance requires no effort.

  2. jserolf says:
    July 11, 2015 at 1:13 pm

    Sometimes, they just need to be introduced to some other forms of poetry…poetry as drama. Often I think high school teachers ruin poetry, rendering it down to some multiple choice test. How can you be objective and not subjective with words like this:

    America I’ve given you all and now I’m nothing.
    America two dollars and twenty-seven cents January 17, 1956.
    I can’t stand my own mind.
    America when will we end the human war?
    Go fuck yourself with your atom bomb
    I don’t feel good don’t bother me.
    I won’t write my poem till I’m in my right mind.
    America when will you be angelic?
    When will you take off your clothes?
    When will you look at yourself through the grave?
    When will you be worthy of your million Trotskyites?

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