Proof of Poetry by Tom Sleigh I wanted first to end up as a drunk in the gutter
and in my twenties I almost ended up there—
and then as an alternative to vodka, to live
alone like a hermit philosopher and court
the extreme poverty that I suspected lay in store for me anyway—
and then there were the years in which
I needed very badly to take refuge in mediocrity,
years like blunt scissors cutting out careful squares,
and that was the worst, the very worst—
you could say that always my life
was like a patchwork quilt always ripped apart—
my life like scraps stitched together in a dream
in which animals and people,
plants, chimeras, stars,
even minerals were in a preordained harmony—
a dream forgotten because it has to be forgotten,
but that I looked for desperately, but only sporadically
found in fragments, a hand lifted to strike
or caress or simply lifted for some unknown reason—
and in memory too, some specific pain, sensation of cold or warmth.
I loved that harmony in all its stages of passion,
the voices still talking inside me . . . but then, instead of harmony,
there was nothing but rags scattered on the ground.
And maybe that's all it means to be a poet. Art by Constantinos Chaidalis
Recommended listening/watching: When Love Arrives - Sarah Kay & Phil Kaye
Links of the Day: The secret rules of the Internet Illustrated: The Radical Indian Activist Who Influenced Mexico City, Lenin And Einstein How does your drug dealer text you? Spintop Snipers
Hello Again,
In the culmination of her adventures, Rohini Kejriwal is being questioned by investigators in northern Japan with regard to the escape of Chacha, the chimpanzee, from Yagiyama Zoological Park. Witnesses say Rohini and Chacha were seen enjoying a meal of rice cakes and lotus roots before the male primate was tranquilized by a Viper aka veterinarian sniper. While posting on Twitter, please use the hashtag- #chacharohini4lyf