In order to get to sleep:

0.5 of one individually wrapped herbal supplement

3 Lithium

1 Shot of Maker’s Mark

Mix well and drop off.

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Anyone going to see pswordwoman at Smith College tomorrow night? I’m planning on it.

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I no longer believe poetry can change the world. I’m not sure I ever really did, but I’m certain now.

I’m wearing a T-shirt I got in Austin that shows the silhouette of a poet at the mike on the front with the letters “POET” on the picture.

On the back. the shirt explains that “poet” means “professional oratory education technician.”

Christ — I don’t want to make my poems educational. If people take a lesson or decide on a course of action as a result of the poem, that’s their business. I’ve become as skeptical of that effort as I am of commercials that get people to buy stuff.

I’m not a writer of persuasive speech — at least, not anymore, not primarily.

I don’t want to educate. What I’d like to think I do is illuminate — shine a light on hidden stuff and let people see it differently.

Again, if things shift as a result, fine. But that’s not my primary job. And I’m not even going to try to pretend otherwise anymore.

Remarkably liberating to give up all that heavy responsibility. 😉 Let others try to change the world through poetry. I wish them luck.