There Is No City
Four days and there is no city,
Only a dusty gravel road,
Sagging green bushes, wilting flowers,
And stifling sterile winds.
The sun shrinks from gay Victorian curtains,
Air conditioning, and buzzing fans.
This is too hot to be bothered,
Like old clichés and Venus de Milo.
For the first time in my memory, someone besides Kellie has suggested a particular section of an old poem that might be improved were it standing on its own. The old poem is Another Conversation found in my third published book of poetry The Joy of Shadows. My friend and fellow blogger Patrick Gillespie and I were discussing the criticism--actually, the lack of good criticism--of poetry in the late 20th and early 21st century. Somehow, the poet John Ashbery came up, and I mentioned to Patrick that I had written several critical conversations to Mr. Ashbery back when I used to care about writing out my thoughts about free verse, confessional poets and poetry. He read the poem (I am not sure how poetic it is.), and he selected this part as a portion of the poem that stood out to him. It fits well within the theme of nature poems that I am writing for my next book, and it is song-like even though it does not rhyme nor have regular meter. I suppose it will stand as one of my few contributions to the free verse phenomenon that has plagued poetic endeavors for the last hundred years or so. I did change one word in the poem because, in the original, it was repeated without good reason.
I do not have a picture that goes with the poem, so I decided that I have not displayed a picture of a purple coneflower (Echinacea) in a while. Aren't they beautiful?
My friend, Patrick Gillespie, is a much more accomplished blogger than I am. He has been at it since 2008, I believe. He is an accurate and thorough critic of literature whose research skills and knowledge are top notch. He is a very good poet who exhibits a craftsmanship that goes well beyond most of the tawdry poetic skills exhibited in contemporary poetic offerings, he is a clear and evocative writer of prose, and he covers a wide range of topics and subjects not always related to poetry. His blog can be found at https://poemshape.wordpress.com/. Please go check out his site and, in the comment box, mention that you heard about it from me.
Most of all, as always, I only ask that you ENJOY! my blog. If you just started reading my blog, by clicking on the topics "All Post," "Poetry and Thoughts on Poetry," "Dewey Lynne Stories," etc., you can read all of the posts as far back as you want. In less than a year, I have posted tons and tons of things to read, and, now, I will ask. What would you like to see put together in a book? Please let me know by typing your answers into the comment box at the bottom of the page on most devices.