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Poem of the Month: January 2008
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| How to Read a Poem Come at it the way you would a pile of clothes on an empty beach at dawn. Circle it slowly. Hold the pieces up one by one. Be a cop; ask questions. If there are pockets, go through them. The owner won't notice. He is probably dead. Are there any jewels? Fake? Real? If there are footprints in the sand, where do they lead? If to water, don't jump to conclusions. Have your men walk both ways down the beach to check for prints leading out. Is there underwear? A pile of clothes on a beach with no underwear is immediately suspect. It could well be an inauthentic pile. If there is underwear examine it closely. Be neither embarrassed nor disgusted by the stains. If you find a pair of jockeys and a brassiere, be on guard, be suspicious. It could be a false lead. Remember there is more here than meets the eye. Pay close attention to labels, but draw your conclusions shrewdly, tentatively. Be on the lookout for patterns and combinations out of the ordinary: Robert Hall and Florsheim, pleated trousers and cowboy boots, neckties and baseball caps. These all point to a mind capable of great whimsy. Always remember your basic assumption: You can tell a man from the clothes he wears, but only while he wears them. While you are examining his clothes, the owner may be riding in on the crest of a wave twenty miles down the coast, smiling and mouthing the sound of his new name. --Al Zolynas, in The New Physics
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The Poems of the Month are copyrighted in the names of the individual authors, and are reproduced here for educational and therapeutic purposes.
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© 2001-2008 Kathleen Adams. All rights reserved.
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