Lawrence Hall, HSG
[email protected] But Truly Write
Cf. Shakespeare, Sonnet 21
…poems are gatherings of words, in good order, in
simple order, plain and appealing.
-Mary Oliver,
A Poetry Handbook, p. 77
A line of contemporary prosetry
Is a catalogue of florid structures and worn-out cliches
Pancaked with adverbs and tiresome metaphors
Flung down in a confusion of unconnected gasps
If you have something to say, then say it
Then tidy up the lines – like washing your face
With soap and water and a cotton towel
And then admire the sunlit, fresh-air truth
Craft your lines of transcendent poetry
As clean sharp-edg’ed truth in well-scrubbed words