A poem should be wordless
As the flight of birds.
*
A poem should be motionless in time
As the moon climbs,
Leaving, as the moon releases
Twig by twig the night-entangled trees,
Leaving, as the moon behind the winter leaves,
Memory by memory the mind --
A poem should be motionless in time
As the moon climbs.
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A poem should be equal to
Not true.
For all the history of grief
An empty doorway and a maple leaf.
For love
Notice that this is not the same thing as “false.”
Ars Poetica