Goodness is better than evil
Becuz it’s nicer.
—Anselm Berrigan
Hello community, what do we think of
using epigraphs by poets we’re currently
reading to kickstart poems we write our
selves? I have a hard time comprehend
ing how this might be a problem, but I’m
assuming, as with most anything, there are
pros and cons. It’s like Glenn Ingersoll says
in his somewhat similar project (to mine, to
this one) that sometimes devils (I’m para
phrasing, I think) are sexy and sometimes
they’re repulsive. He’s talking about
Satan here! I write this with an exclama
tion point as if it’s a big surprise to me,
knowing full well that I’ve been caught
by the web of the devil’s sexiness before,
probably much more often that I’ve been
caught up in their ugliness. This to me is
just as fun a topic as using epigraphs from
poems I’m currently reading or have just
recently read to kickstart a new poem by
yours truly – and sometimes I've already
laid the groundwork in my head about
what this poem will be about, pretty
much how it will begin, the trajectory,
and occasionally (but rarely) exactly
how it will end. As you may or may
not be able to tell, that isn’t the case
here. I’ve just been reading Anselm’s
book “Something for Everybody,” and
came across this quote of his and decided
what a great and true quote. So simple, so
concise, yet so quirky how it’s said, by
changing up just a word, really, and how
understated it seems because it’s so truthy,
so obvious. And there’s the fact that, while
it’s so clear to me that good guys are not
always the winners in the end, and bad
guys are not only often quite recompensed
or elevated in the public eye by just being
bad guys, but so many of them never get
a jot of punishment for their criminal or
at least bad behavior, it is a tenet that I
seem to hold on to for dear life; that’s how
important it is for me to be good and not
bad, subjective as that lifelong quest can
often be. So there. I’ve asked a question.
Offered up some evidence or an example
of how I utilize the practice of using these
quotes by others. And why don’t I throw
in another valuable aspect of this practice,
one I’m sure I can find agreement with
from some folks who have experience
with such things, but perhaps it’s a
small minority who would go this
route, who am I to know: I get to,
in a way, as agreeable as I some
times am with the quotes I put with
in my poems, to engage not only with
the poet, very often one in which I’m a
huge fan, sometimes, somebody I’ve
never heard of before, but am obviously
happy to have done so, and occasionally,
whether I'm a fan, a non-fan, or an up to
now person to whom the source of the
quote is completely unknown to me or
was up until a very recent moment,
it’s a sort of a “fake” and yet “real”
way to have a discussion with that
poet or quoted person—publicly.
Sure, that makes it tricky, it ups
the ante, there’s a certain amount
of risk one takes, particularly
if you’re starting off with a
quote by one of your heroes,
but isn’t that the most okay
part of it all. Even when
you agree with something
you hear, why not put that
agreement to the test of,
in my case, publicly met
ing it out? Even and esp
ecially if that someone is
a hero of yours. Also, I
don’t do this as a means
to have some sort of rel
evant debate or use as
inspiration a quote by
someone just to toss it
into a void. It’s very
much meant as a
vehicle for engage
ment. And that to
me means engagement
well beyond the virtual
page you see here. Talk
with me. Talk to me. DM
me, as they say. Or do they
say that anymore? I dunno.
I’m here, I’m around, it’s
easy to find a way to do
such a thing. It’s just a
thought and a hope, but/
and I said it. To you.
bad, subjective as that lifelong quest can
often be. So there. I’ve asked a question.
Offered up some evidence or an example
of how I utilize the practice of using these
quotes by others. And why don’t I throw
in another valuable aspect of this practice,
one I’m sure I can find agreement with
from some folks who have experience
with such things, but perhaps it’s a
small minority who would go this
route, who am I to know: I get to,
in a way, as agreeable as I some
times am with the quotes I put with
in my poems, to engage not only with
the poet, very often one in which I’m a
huge fan, sometimes, somebody I’ve
never heard of before, but am obviously
happy to have done so, and occasionally,
whether I'm a fan, a non-fan, or an up to
now person to whom the source of the
quote is completely unknown to me or
was up until a very recent moment,
it’s a sort of a “fake” and yet “real”
way to have a discussion with that
poet or quoted person—publicly.
Sure, that makes it tricky, it ups
the ante, there’s a certain amount
of risk one takes, particularly
if you’re starting off with a
quote by one of your heroes,
but isn’t that the most okay
part of it all. Even when
you agree with something
you hear, why not put that
agreement to the test of,
in my case, publicly met
ing it out? Even and esp
ecially if that someone is
a hero of yours. Also, I
don’t do this as a means
to have some sort of rel
evant debate or use as
inspiration a quote by
someone just to toss it
into a void. It’s very
much meant as a
vehicle for engage
ment. And that to
me means engagement
well beyond the virtual
page you see here. Talk
with me. Talk to me. DM
me, as they say. Or do they
say that anymore? I dunno.
I’m here, I’m around, it’s
easy to find a way to do
such a thing. It’s just a
thought and a hope, but/
and I said it. To you.
