(Perhaps this poet has gotten in trouble in the past for things she said or wrote ~ no poet worth their personal integrity has not, in any recent era of Western history.

But she has found herself in far more trouble, and far more often, through maintaining a peaceful silence when platitude or appeasement were considered de rigueur)

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Recorded Reading (2:11): https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/gim3ls8u7z5rqjd1kfu4y/Silence-of-a-Poet.wav?rlkey=diu2o003v63pcn2ytrcyzf2p5&dl=0

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Silence of a Poet

Alone I, musing, spend most all my time
Alone among my fellowmen I walk
Thus I obtain one benefit sublime —
Freedom from endless and meaningless talk

Pronounced, most, little more symbolic’lly
Than the suggestive twitters of the birds
Its meaning falling, alternatively,
In formulaic or generic words

Blurred meaning the pronunciation of
True subject very seldom as announced
(O mention anything rather than love!)
Most, merely for the way it be pronounced

Completely irrespective of its true
Content or context (just ignore that lot)
But by the tone of voice that, list’ning, you
Your necessary information got

No mellow silences do most permit
Exist between companions any time,
Or it’s assumed that we are in some snit
(Divorced from verbalization sublime)

Once in a while, list’ning my window through,
When conversation rises to me here
I check ensure my first conclusions to
(Perhaps ’twere not as odious appear!)

But sure enough — non-subjects rule the hour
Small exclamations of false sympathy
Giving away, in handfuls, speakers’ pow’r
To others hovering vampiric’lly

For them to show out some unwittingly
Sensitive or personal small detail
By which might shore up a hegemony
Enthusiasm’s momentum derail

Or simply wait, with inner tapping foot,
For one to get ones lengthy story done
So they might move into the part that’s good
When their own lengthy story is begun

Perhaps it seems I less than friendly be
To one who suspects not this loving heart —
Ask not the life, ask not the breath of me
Of such a travesty to be a part

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This poet is physically disabled. Public housing being insufficient to her medical and creative needs, she is presently living, in order to continue working, in her minivan, publishing all of her works using one thumb on the touch screen of her smartphone, surviving at an income of a fraction of her nation’s poverty level. She would treasure any donation you might care to offer ~ http://www.UgiftABLE.com ● #72D-31S.

Please be aware that it takes several days for the poet to be notified of contributions. International patrons please contact the poet via email or post a comment for the necessary numbers.

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