Ars Poetica

[med_cat]

Ars Poetica

A poem should be palpable and mute
As a globed fruit

Dumb
As old medallions to the thumb

Silent as the sleeve-worn stone
Of casement ledges where the moss has grown -

A poem should be wordless
As the flight of birds

A poem should be motionless in time
As the moon climbs

Leaving, as the moon releases
Twig by twig the night-entangled trees,

Leaving, as the moon behind the winter leaves,
Memory by memory the mind -

A poem should be motionless in time
As the moon climbs

A poem should be equal to:
Not true

For all the history of grief
An empty doorway and a maple leaf

For love
The leaning grasses and two lights above the sea -

A poem should not mean
But be

(Archibald MacLeish)

Comments

Re: Marianne Moore, "Poetry"

[med_cat]

Of course ;)

Re: publishing, again, a general observation only ;)

And yes, Asimov had a wide range of interests; his "Black Widower" short detective stories are quite good; I'd read them in the college library...and his book of regular limericks is rather...risque; so not too sure abt his SH ones.

Interesting observation re: Sherlockian poets.