Sometimes
Poetry
Seems
To be:
A hammer, a stiletto
Pretentious, modest
A mummer, a scream
Propaganda, the gospel
Fucking and sucking
Gorging and fasting
Ducking and dogging
Slick and slimy
Profound, profane
Soulful, senseless
Ass kicking, ass kissing
Soft days, sick nights
Hallow ground, wasteland
Nigger ways, White rights
Blind insight
Wasted words
Tidy turds
Null, void
Dead
and
risen
again
Frederick K Foote
(The image is Mr. Foote)
Saragun Springs 
Fred
Poetry is all that. I do not know how or why one thing will work and another will fail. But when a poem connects with a person it becomes a life long attachment. And some poets like Dylan Thomas almost always will “find” me, while another, Matthew Arnold, will score only once, but Dover Beach makes him eternal.
Thoughtful work again, and I am happy to let all know that you will be back with more this summer!
Leila
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This poem feels dangerous. Handle with care. “A hammer, a stiletto”
Powerful word choices. The contrast worked well, too.
“Hallow ground, wasteland”
Excellent!
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Hi Fred
Some of the best poems ever are about poetry itself, since poetry itself, at its best, is a way of life. Wallace Stevens said we should collect moments of poetry from our lives and write them afterward.
This is an excellent addition to that canon of poems about poetry as a way of life because of the multiple similes and metaphors it offers, different angles of vision on this topic.
I also like how this piece does and doesn’t take poetry seriously, at the very same time, which seems Taoist. The final lines evoking a Christlike resurrection are a great way to end this.
Dale
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