Frankenlines, or How to Horrify Poetry

You could just read through

The first or last lines,

The first and last lines,

Of whatever might

Be of interest.

A few books reward

This—Finnegans Wake,

That ourobouros—

Novels with a great,

Killer opening

And a killer end—

But most writings won’t.

Many openings

Of poems are fragments.

A stunning fragment

Is rare and should be,

Probably, just left

Alone as the poem.

Read any index

Of opening lines.

You could hardly guess

Which poems you’d like best,

But there’s poetry

In the cruelty

Of monster-making

Those scraps for one whole

And horrible text.