Tuesday, May 24, 2022

Crude Oil

We rather like the idea
Of poetry as a way,
A factory for making

Raw materials into
More of exactly the same
Raw materials, although

We’re taking Yan Lianke
Totally out of context.
Why not? You take words, take us,

And turn us into more us.
We’re not transformed in the least.
We’re still words and unhelpful,

Not like essays or novels,
Not like books of instructions,
For sure not like holy writ.

Here we are words pretending
We’re finished products, as if
We live and speak for ourselves.

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