Plainstyle Ars Poetica

 

. . . out of selection comes painful cattle.

                         —GERTRUDE STEIN

 

For this, I need

a sharp-edged

tool to lend my

layman’s hand

the confidence

a surgeon has

taking up the

scalpel. Un-

anesthetized,

I have to cut.

 

Thus, I slice

subjects from

their predicates

&; dissect the

nouns to pare

them down

to empty

phonemes

devoid of

power. I

try to drain

the affect out.

 

Poetry can be

a brutal art.

Gertrude

Stein for ex-

ample: A

sniper in a

tree. All

amputation

&; surgery.

Bullseye

steely

gaze &;

butchery.

Steady

hand.

Sharp

knife.

Slice

the fat

that

rinds

each

word

cut

them

cut

them

down

one

by

one

by

one.