When it’s an art
you’re willing
to live with the sunburn
and the lack of showers
just to get the experience
to get the word
down on the page
where it can do the most good
or the most harm
really depending
on your point of view
but for the art
you drink the brew
and don’t get enough sleep
and wander along the creek
under an unforgiving Vermont sun
that doesn’t have any more respect
for you as a poet
than the American public at large
which is to say
no respect at all
the woods are lovely, dark and deep
but at this point
I don’t really think
we need to get into that
the experience
will benefit my art
that’s what I tell myself
as I get beaten alive
by an unforgiving Vermont sun
7-4-95