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Rememerbing The First Poems I Wrote In 1975
I once wrote, or perhaps should say, "did write"
poems that sounded like nineteenth century
newspaper verse; until, quite mercifully,
my senior year, my mentor said to me---
that this was not viable poetry;
but rather showed a callow, careless lack
of grammar in support of artistry.
This was not---in no way---meant to attack,
but rather as knowledge to redirect
my efforts to a more proper prospect,
so that the product would not seem so slight;
and not to use "did" to force present tense
verbs into past so that the line made sense
or to ensure a good rhyme might resound.
In errors like this, my poems did abound.
Starward
