a little advice

[janet paterson <janet313@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

     Advice

     It is time for you to stop trying to be so smart.
     It is time to abandon those plans for aqueducts,
     canals, sewers. It is time to burn your boats,
     to jump into the next free dinghy, to run
     yourself aground on foreign land. It is time
     to smash every inhibition on the shores of progress,
     then loll in the rubble, flinging shards of ship
     at gulls as you build empires in the sand
     beneath a beach umbrella. Basically,
     it is time to stop trying so hard.
     Instead, lie back and listen to the waves
     smashing shells to bits. Think of it
     as a chorus goading you to greater heights
     or as wild beasts begging to be caged.
     Basically, it is time for you to be heard.
     Remember to enunciate. Pay attention
     to vowels, the way they seduce
     regardless of the words they inhabit.
     Recognize how the names of things
     slide off their thingness like fried fish
     from an oily plate. Smell the fishy fragrance,
     injected into the steamy air by the mere
     mention of dinner. Fondle your imaginary
     skillet. How hard and dark and hot it is.
     This is just the beginning of y ourpower.
     You will find new oceans, you will reside
     in a do-or-die mode. This is not necessarily
     a problem and thus the ironic, absurdist tone
     you have become accustomed to
     must also be abandoned. You must be
     patient. You must quietly await
     your one authentic voice. As Pound said,
     quoting Beardsley: Beauty is slow.

     For me, on the other hand, it is over,
     politically, and as a human being.
     I will never talk about myself again.
     I will be taciturn, modest.
     You will continue to look at me
     from the outside and not know
     what I have suffered. Still,
     it may be difficult to forget
     that I have been your leader.
     It is this indebtedness
     that will define you
     as my greatest joy.



     Suzanne Wise
     The Kingdom of the Subjunctive
     Alice James Books

     Copyright © 2000 by Suzanne Wise.
     All rights reserved.
     Reproduced by Poetry Daily with permission.
     

janet paterson
53 now / 44 dx cd / 43 onset cd / 41 dx pd / 37 onset pd
TEL: 613 256 8340 URL: 
EMAIL: janet313@xxxxxxxxxxx SMAIL: PO Box 171 Almonte Ontario K0A 1A0 Canada