After [Frost]

Whose woods these are I think I know.
But Tiger's in the clubhouse now,
And will not see me swinging here
Pretending that I am a pro.

My carping caddy thinks it's queer. . .


I can't go on. The horror is that I haven't been able to write a thing more complicated than my name since I quit smoking four months ago. And then one night I dreamed a poem, a glorious piece, stunning in conception and execution. Woke up to this punishment.



------------------
Ralph

Voskhod Zemli
(transliteration from the Russian Cyrillic alphabet)
http://ablemuse.com/erato/ubbhtml/up...rthriseTr2.gif

A SELF-PORTRAIT AT AGE 60

The stone was cut out of the mountain without hands. -- Daniel 2:45

You have the Pulitzer and Nobel Prizes,
Prestigious endowment and foundation
Publicity and precious grant surprises;
And little magazines across the nation.
You have the Ivy League expensive schools,
The long tradition, tenured teachers, proud
Alumni, newspaper reporting pools,
And The exclusive New York City crowd.
But where is your great poetry? You have failed.
You judged the poet not the poetry,
The prestige not the product. When I hailed,
My language was unknown. You failed to know me!
Did I waste all my free time when I tried?
Have all the connoisseurs retired or died?