Poets' Corner

Currently we have two poems for your delectation. The second, by Ed Stepp, first appeared in the April 1996 issue of Capital M. The first is a fine offering by David Bristol. Enjoy!

Acquisitions

Drink of the curious tongue, tart and pleasing,
taste trained, a polite knowledge and tradition.
First, not easy in the mouth — pleasure known universal
sought in desire for desire for oblivion, slight and shared.
A cup of yearning, little sugar before the vinegar.

A mouth pleased with immediacy,
cola and cherry vanilla, numbs on complexity.
Not grapes, but citrus, currants, smoke, bacon fat,
beverage for time on the pallet, good.

"A taste you'll acquire." The remark to a child's grimace
at a sip of Scotch informed indulgence with a dare
revealed by mother in a gift of aspiration.

A child's joy in waffles is not lost
as ambivalence joins appetite — conquest
exchanged for pleasure loosened, unsure.

Drink of the ages — to give the walk falter
and unhinge tongues — for ceremony and sandwiches
echoing fear and powers of abandon, minor.
Sometimes buttery or sweet, sometimes lies on the tongue
like aspirin. An intoxicant waltzed with words,
high idleness and a pretentious sip.

2
A thirst in force is new
arriving with food magazines,
a patience for florid description.
Language of indulgence and the act lost to time,
frivolous, claiming nothing of the moment
but pleasant fog.

The happy substitute for art,
photograph of a pear tart.

It carries a day amiably —
the taste acquired in humility
less exacting but quietly insistent
with claims. "I may do not a thing,
desire less lying here,

breathe, drink, yak, smile,
time on Earth — there's nothing more —
is for knowledge and wasting.

—by David Bristol

On Writing a Modern Poem

I think I've got it.
Yes, I think I know
Just how to write a Modern Poem.
First choose a title
That is clear and bold.
So your reader will know
(As you already know)
What you are writing about.

Don't bother to make it rhyme.
That takes up too much time.
And alliteration is for the illiterate.

Rhythm, meter, and feet per line
are also unimportant.
Arrange the words and phrases in lines
of random lengths and break up the sentences
and stanzas so that
it has (you know) that "poetic" look.

Don't let yourself be encumbered by
punctuation, capitalization, spelling, or grammar.
They are for the peasants, and should not
concern the artist while
he or she is pouring out
his or her soul.

Including obscure allusions is good,
in fact, the more obscure the better;
and the most obscure ones are the best.
Your readers may not get them,
but that's tradition.
Erato will appreciate and applaud
your erudition.

Never mind if your phrases make no sense.
Just write them down as they occur to you.
Kindred spirits, true artists, fellow poets,
and the hip,
like yourself, will understand.

You'll know you have it right
When it can be said of your creation:
Except that it has no meaning,
This could just as well be prose.


— by Ed Stepp
from the April 1996 Cap-M

Send us your poetry! It will join the two excellent poems above in the annals of MWM WWW wonderfulness. Send it to the MWM Webmaster, Loren Kropat, at mwmwebsite@gmail.com.

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