Thursday, August 14, 2003

Sayings of Asmodeus: Human inefficiency is all that
preserves life on this planet, so don't kvetch about it.

Stingy poets: if it has one thing worth saving, save it.
Greedy readers: who want all the fruit without climbing
the tree.

Admit every day: you do not know how to write. You only
know ways that sometimes work. (There are others.)

Writing bad is a symptom. Look elsewhere than your papers
for the disease.

What only is not denied me is the dubious elaboration of an
obsession. Is there light past the gnawing at the duodenum?
Perhaps the only honesty left to poets anymore is the
furtiveness with which they begin in adolescence. That is
timeless & sincere. The shamelessness of later on allows
them any amount of lying, unfortunately. Therefore the worst
amateurs strike me as more poetic in their practice than our
professional poets.

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