Disclaimer

This blog ran for more than two years with no graphics--and it received about 50 page views. I was advised to add graphics; after seeing the huge public that followed blogs dedicated to homoerotic images, I decided to use that kind. The result was a dramatically increased number of monthly page views, and the number has remained fairly steady. Most of the images were found on the internet; although they are assumed to be in the public domain, they are identified as far as possible. They are exhibited under the Fair Use protections of United States copyright law: their function is simply to attract readers to the poems--I receive no economic benefit from them or from the blog. Nevertheless, they will be removed if they are copyrighted and the owner so desires. 1260 x 290

POEMAS EN ESPAÑOL -- 2009: January 8, April 12, August 3 . . . . 2010: January 13 . . . . 2013: June 30, November 28, December 8 . . . . 2014: September 25, November 30 . . . . 2015: July 9, October 22 . . . . 2016: February 12, August 1, December 28 . . . . 2017: March 2, September 5 . . . . 2018: May 10, July 15, November 3 . . . . 2019: August 4, December 5 . . . . 2020: December 1 . . . . 2021: October 12, December 3 . . . . 2022: April 15, June 21 . . . . 2023: January 3, April 2, May 9, June 6.

Sunday, March 27, 2016

GRAFFITI (AN UNPLEASANT MANIFESTO)



"The Critic and the Lawyer but behold
The baser side of literature and life."
                        Byron, Don Juan, X: 14: 1-2



Sincerity's no guarantee
Of art—of poetry least of all.
Sincerity's what confessors hear,
It's what the nurse and medic see,
Or worse. I sometimes feel
The greatest sincerity's what we read
On restroom walls:
"I want to . . ." "Call me . . ."
"Whoever reads this is a queer . . ."

Call it ignorance; call it rage,
The major symptom of our age;
Call it, if you will, sheer lust
Perverted and fertilized by disgust,
It shows the basest need
Constrained by fear, and thus
It is sincere, even when in part
Unconscious.

But . . . art?

Anonymous, they bare their need,
Evading responsibility
Through secrecy in public,
As, behind doors, lawyers trick,
Yet magnify the law:
"The Law exists apart."
"The Law exacts awe."
"Law does not swerve."

And, like graffiti, like all means 
Self-elevated into ends,
The law remains erect
Long after those ends it was meant to serve
Are not. 

The law does not respect
The sticky issues of the human heart,
Which usually turn out to be,
On close examination, rather raw,
As in graffiti
The raw material, in fact, of art.

True practitioners and those who know,
On the other hand, elaborate from need,
But know that need is not enough
Without the skill to take the rough
And change and mold, or make it flow,
Make stubborn forms or passing waves,
That startle while they captivate,
Releasing us as they enslave.

But even so,
Like law and graffiti both,
It's a necessity
I mean art merely,
Not sincerity.

It helps us live with one another
And with ourselves—if not like brothers,
At least in a natural sort of order
While we remain, oh so sincerely,
Selfish, unloving, cowardly.





__________________________________
http://nothingbuttalent.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/toilet-graffiti01.jpg

 

Followers