In Kentucky they look with bland indifference
upon poets, sneering with Skoal-edged disdain,
thinking poets possessed of little, if any, sense,
like rainmakers dancing without a drop of rain.
They think we cannot do needful jobs
like carpentry, plumbing, trucking, and welding,
and so dismiss us as useless, unemployed slobs,
“poet” being a byword for a feckless gelding.
And many think of poetry as little more than rites,
if even that, the meat of it unfit even for tallow
to feed candles for their flickering lights,
or like a field unsown, bare and fallow.
And I know it is true, being a man of mind
enough to know the waste of his potential,
like fruit forsaken in its profligate rind,
or anything that is not practical or provincial.
Being an atheist atop that, my brain is a schism
of myth and science, fancy and reason,
smirking at rosaries, hijabs, and catechism,
yet flown away with pagan spirits of each season.
I feel, at times, a psychologist in his chair
listening to myself as I lay upon the couch,
knowing each diagnosis a waste of air—
whether it actually helps, I cannot avouch.
But like gravity it is what I am compelled to obey,
whether it is a mania, an indulgence, or a curse;
when Life adorns itself with a revelation each day
I testify with my meager means the universe.
Stephen Marshall. Writer, illustrator, layabout. Find him on Amazon, maybe. He has paperback and kindle books listed there. He also writes Supernatural Romance under the name S.C. Foster (because his fiancee pushed him to do so). He seems to have a knack for the Romance genre, much to his chagrin. Having pursued Children's literature he is particularly proud of his Children's novel series "Lost And Found", which begins with "Chloe Among The Clover", continues recently with "Stormy Within The Strawberry Patch" and may, in some future potentiality, culminate with "Candice Through The Picket Fence". These are novels for children (including his insistent nephew), but they are also written for adults who are children at heart. His short story collection, "The Eldritch Diaries", centers primarily upon Cosmic Horror and Body Horror, combining Lovecraft's mythos with the motifs of Sigmund Freud. His largest poetry collection, "Broken Crown Kings", contains over two hundred poems and two short novellas concerning the fleeting nature of the world and Man's place within it. Recently he has published a smaller book of poetry concerning Kentucky, Moonshine, and Ghosts called "Moonshine And Spirit Chasers". A much larger collection, entitled '"Nevermore" 99 Rhymes For $0.99' is also available. For those seeking supernatural and folklore, his collection "Weeping Cherry" is available also.
https://www.amazon.com/Stephen-Marshall/e/B07536QKD9?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_fkmrnull_1&qid=1554215427&sr=8-1-fkmrnull
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