Among other things I will be previewing poems from my new chapbook After the Flood. As the good book says “So the last shall be first, and the first last….” So it is here.
The Last Poem
who will write
the last poem?
will anyone read it?
perhaps it will just remain
behind
abandoned as
an unread artifact
that will never be
recited
or, for that matter, rejected
by editors – a defacto still birth
for this last poem we should hope
it has the élan
to be composed
in pica or elite
typewritten
with mechanical keys
rhythmically striking
a staccato tatoo
a bell sounding
at the end of the line
or better yet
written with a freshly sharpened
yellow wooden pencil
with that schoolroom smell
scribbled on real paper peppered with shavings
