Why Complain
Bad poetry gets you good posts.
Good poetry
Gets you to a mountain.
Hugging the mountain
You shiver
Daylong you hug it
For cold
With a dour face.
Some position, that.
Poetry,
Good for nothing, you think,
— It courts envy.
Daggers drawn soon point at your clenched teeth,
The good & the great are long dead.
You chew over their work. Best dead.
For what it's worth.
& shall I not, now nearing the end of life,
Have some peace of mind —
A person of few words
Who has withstood his time?
The pack descended,
Glowering
You are wanted.
______________________
In the Same Light
200 Poems for Our Century
translated by Wang May
The Song Cave, 2022
