The night Richard finished this poem Alan and I had brought over Thai noodles for Charlee and Dick. He very nervously told us that he wanted to read us a new poem. (Why he would ever be nervous around us is beyond me.) His concern was "fiats." He read us some alternate last lines, and Alan shouted Fiat Lux. So it shall be for the ages.

one great poem
 

And so it shall be!

I had no problem with the last line.

Not all poems demand to be read in the same way. In particular, immediate transparency at first reading is not a necessary virtue of every strong and successful poem. Sometimes we have to let the poem teach us how to read it. This may take more than a few minutes – it may take considerably longer than minutes – and may require us to look up unfamiliar words or ponder complex patternings of image and design that may not be at once apparent and then assimilate them into the poem’s overall effect as we learn to read it.

Clive Watkins

This happy event might bring me back on board for a while.

PS Well, now I look the careless idiot, not having read the original post date closely enough on my belt-buckle sized micro iPod. On second thought, why not see if Wilbur is up for an encore!

You're not the only idiot, Allen. I assumed RW was coming back too! Thought it very nice of him at 80+.

Make that 90+.