Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, PRO BONO PUBLICO, by PAUL WEST



Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

PRO BONO PUBLICO, by                    
First Line: She knew she had 'a call' to be a poet
Last Line: It's gained -- what's twice as valuable -- a cook!
Subject(s): Cooking & Cooks; Women - Writers


She knew she had "a call" to be a poet;
She thought, she dreamed in nothing else but rhyme.
Could she but mount her pegasus and go it,
She felt she'd reach her pinnacle in time.

But, oh! like many poets, now and erstwhile,
She needed "cash," the bugbear of our race --
And so, to stay her hunger and her thirst while
She dreamed in verse, she had to take a "place."

Now she's baking, and she's frying, and she's boiling
In the kitchen of a flat -- against her will.
Who knows but, while above the range she's toiling
Her soul poetic things is thinking still.

Who cares? Not I! her cooking does not show it.
My dinner in that flat, last night, I took;
And I'll swear, although the world has lost a poet,
It's gained -- what's twice as valuable -- a cook!





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