I Make a place to sit down. Sit down. Be quiet. You must depend upon affection, reading, knowledge, skill -- more of each than you have -- inspiration, work, growing older, patience, for patience joins time to eternity. Any readers who like your poems, doubt their judgment. II Breathe with unconditional breath the unconditioned air. Shun electric wire. Communicate slowly. Live a three-dimensioned life; stay away from screens. Stay away from anything that obscures the place it is in. There are no unsacred places; there are only sacred places and desecrated places. III Accept what comes from silence. Make the best you can of it. Of the little words that come out of the silence, like prayers prayed back to the one who prays, make a poem that does not disturb the silence from which it came. Copyright © 2001 by The Modern Poetry Association. This poem appears in January 2001 issue of @3Poetry@1 Magazine. http://www.poetrymagazine.org | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...HOW TO BE A POET (TO REMIND MYSELF) by WENDELL BERRY CONTRA MORTEM: THE LEAVES by HAYDEN CARRUTH A DISCRETE LOVE POEM by JAMES GALVIN A POEM FROM THE EDGE OF AMERICA by JAMES GALVIN THE DESIRE OF NATIONS by EDWIN MARKHAM OF ANY OLD MAN by ISAAC ROSENBERG |