A poem is a two-way street
“Of course a poem is a two-way street. No poem is any good if it doesn't suggest to the reader things from his own mind and recollection that he will read into it, and will add to what the poet has suggested.” – James Laughlin
Laughlin, born in 1914, was founder of New Directions Publishing, which became a preeminent publisher of modernist literature.
Laughlin's poetic writing (more than 1,200 poems) often focused on everyday experiences, love, and life and was highly regarded by fellow poets. In his honor, the “James Laughlin Award” is given annually by The Academy of American Poets to recognize and support a second book of poetry forthcoming in the next calendar year. For Saturday’s Poem, exerpted from New Direction’s wonderful book The Collected Poems of James Laughlin is,
What The Pencil Writes
Often when I go out I
put in my coat pocket
some paper and a pencil
in case I want to
write something down
well there they are
wherever I go and as
my coat moves the pencil
writes by itself
a kind of gibberish
hieroglyphic which I
often think as I undress
at night & take
out those papers with
nothing written on
them but strange and
meaningless marks is
the story of my life.
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Published on November 04, 2017 06:10
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