A Beam in the Eye
It’s quite a botheration to admit
That critics, gifted though they are, can slip
Up. One that I can reverence and sit
And read for years and decades easily can strip
Away respect with one remark on Keats.
The critic maybe had an insight that
Is true but his expression of it treats
With mixed up terms the ode. The thought goes splat.
He says “lengthy” lines. Actually he means
The first long sentence. How can I revere
Such sloppiness? A “heaviness” demeans
Them (when instead they slightly limp). I jeer.
He’s published many sterling volumes, though,
And what I’ve managed is a tarnished show.
~ Phillip Whidden