advice to aspiring poets

 

 

i tell them

there is always

a circumstance

 

in which their work

will be regarded as

brilliant

 

for example,

i say,

 

if i were in a cave

and there were no other

people in the world

and i had been

bleeding from a

wound in my leg

for some days now,

and the water had

run out and the

temperature was

unbearably cold and

i hadn't heard another

human voice in

forty-nine years and

you appeared out of

nowhere to read

your poem,

 

under those circum

stances,

 

i might even

like

your work

 

but only because

i wouldn't be able

to either understand it

or kill you

 

so keep at it,

i tell them.

 

your day will come.

 

-- miller