I wouldn’t write at all if it weren’t
for myriad writers before me whose works showed me what was possible. The poems
of this series are small offerings of respect, of thanks, to those muses. –
Brian Beatty
Kenneth Patchen
Your declared war
on war all but killed
you,
I’m afraid.
Your oft professed
love
of love didn’t save
you either.
Or so I fear.
California, wherever
it is,
always sounds far
away.
I hear some people
find it
peaceful there.
You don’t say?
You don’t say.
– Brian Beatty
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Learn more
about Kenneth Patchen:
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Brian's recent collections of poetry are Dust and Stars: Miniatures and Brazil, Indiana.
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ReplyDeleteIn the early days of the Internet I tangled with a Patchen biographer because I published a review of his book that proposed Patchen deserved to be remembered for more than his social activism and health issues. I still believe that. Though I return to Patchen's poems and drawings less than I used to, he remains a powerful example of a poet who never lived in an academic glass house.
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