Poetry Porch: Poetry

 

FROM TWO BOOKS
by Ted Richer




When she writes in her preface:


All this existed.


My poems are a diary.


My poetry is a poetry of proper names.


Write, write more!


Fix every moment, every gesture, every sigh!



She should write:


All this existed IN MY LIFE.


My poems are a diary OF MY LIFE.


My poetry is a poetry of proper names IN MY LIFE.


Write, write more OF MY LIFE!


Fix every moment, every gesture, every sigh IN A POEM!


So.


When Ted writes in his preface:


All this existed IN MY LIFE.


My poems are a diary OF MY LIFE.


My poetry is a poetry of proper names IN MY LIFE.


Write, write more OF MY LIFE!


Fix every moment, every gesture, every sigh IN A POEM!


Ted should write:


“All this existed.”


“My poems are a diary.”



“My poetry is a poetry of proper names.”


“Write, write more!”


“Fix every moment, every gesture, every sigh!”



Like Marina Tsvetaeva.


In her 1913 collection:


From Two Books.




Copyright © 2017 by Ted Richer.