I read an interview once with a Broadway Composer (Sondheim?), who said songs in musicals should only be used to express emotions too strong or complex to be described in prose. I feel much the same way about poetry. I have written 10 million words of prose in my life and only 10,000 words of poetry (so far), some of which I have shared with you, dear readers. Much of it is personal and impenetrable to anyone outside my immediate family, but some of it, I think, is moving and well-written, so I am launching this new feature. Under this headline, I will offer the opening stanza and a link to the complete poem.
I quote Robert Frost in the preface to my privately published poetry collection: “Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words.” In other words, poetry lets us name the nameless.
Poem: Happiest Man On Earth
“Make me the happiest man on earth.”
A proposal.
A question.
A cliché.
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