Except From The Americans—but Every Pearl Has

It Is Always Hard For Poets To Believe That One Says Their Poems Are Bad Not Because One Is A Fiend But Because Their Poems Are Bad.

If My Tone Is Mocking, The Tone Of Someone Accustomed To Helplessness, This Is Natural: The Poet Is A Condemned Man For Whom The State Will Not Even Buy Breakfast And As Someone Said, "if You're Going To Hang Me, You Mustn't Expect To Be Able To Intimidate Me Into Sparing Your Feelings During The Execution."

The Usual Bad Poem In Somebody's Collected Works Is A Learned, Mannered, Valued Habit, A Habit A Little More Careful Than, And Little Emptier Than, Brushing One's Teeth.

If Wishes Were Stories, Beggars Would Read.

A Person Is A Process, One That Leads To Death.