Do Not Fling Poetry into Foolishness
The poet Merwin thinks about the whim
That language uses us. He doesn’t say
That this is just a playful notion. Slim
That whimsy, though of course it’s fun to play
With half-time silliness. Yet then the game
Is quite another dumbness, ain’t it? Why
Pretend stupidities? Why daydream lame
Delusions? Was his poetry not high
Enough a calling? Was his whimsy just
A springboard for a poem when he had
No other inspiration? Was this dust
Not something he could brush away as bad?
A poet should not be so gasping that
He writes up foolishness that WHAM! goes splat.
~ Phillip Whidden