notebook: 1/3/88


It is harder to stay with
being a poet, than it is to
keep writing poetry-
just as it is harder
to stay human rather than
just keep living.

1/12/88

Mars distance
varies widely from Sun
right now
its perihelion
closest now
we are flying near
Mars in 47 days
Mars closest to us
in Sept than it has
in 2 decades
Sept- Mars-
a fiery beacon
in the sky
Bright red star in
the East after
midnight

University of Texas
McDonald observatory
Austin, Texas
78712
free publication

I hate writing so called.
You might wonder
why I'm here-
in that case

I hate writing so-called
poetry. I hate the
phoney pretentiousness, the
self-conscious aspiration
of the writer to become
part of history, the
oohs and ahs- the prizes,
awards, the readings.
I probably like only the
clean, crisp books themselves,
not even the words, just
the useless objects- the
lack of pragmatic usefulness.