November 8, 2004

By Tony Brown

Failure

I always wanted to write the one
definitive poem that
defined me well enough that I
could just sit back afterward and
watch the truth roll in.

Twenty years later and I keep trying,
no matter how little I have changed.
You’d think I’d have done it by now,
but no; still, I keep at it as if the next one
will really do the trick.

There’s a point coming where I will
have to admit that every new poem is
a failure, a testament
to the ineffectiveness of
the previous one.

Still, it’s like biting on tinfoil
sometimes to write a poem over and over again,
as if I might be able to get past it this time —
the blinding, the surprise that
there is still something to feel.

About Tony Brown

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A poet with a history in slam, lots of publications; my personal poetry and a little bit of daily life and opinions. Read the page called "About..." for the details. View all posts by Tony Brown
This entry was posted on Monday, November 8th, 2004 at 12:42 pm and posted in uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

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