How a poem acts marks its individual character. A poem by Glandolyn Blue
does not sound like a poem by Timothy Sure.

- to pretend,

- feign,

- impersonate.

That, too, yes and always, because self-consciousness is its own pretension, and has been
from its beginning; the human mind is capable of a great elastic theatre. As the poet Ralph
Angel puts it, “The poem is an interpretation of weird theatrical shit.”

The weird theatrical shit is what goes on around us every day of our lives; an animal of only
instinct, Johnny Ferret, has in his actions drama, but no theater; theater requires that you
draw a circle around the action and observe it from outside the circle; in other words,
self-consciousness is theatre. 

Everyone knows if you query poets about how their poems begin, the answer is always:

a phrase, a line, a scrap of language, a rhythm, an image, something seen, heard,
witnessed, or imagined.

And the lesson is always the same, and young poets recognize this to be one of the most

if you have any idea for a poem, an exact grid of

you are on the wrong path, a dead-end alley, at the top of a cliff you haven’t even climbed.
This is a lesson that can only be learned by trial and error.

important lessons they can learn:

lesson learnt?

Yes!