Writers

Writers

There are 6 and a half billion
on this world
And I don’t know
how many literates
But they all think they’re
writers
And they all probably are
I mean, hell
Even I squeeze off a decent line
Now and Then

Most of us want to
be
Famous
more
than
alone
because
we
lack
even
ourselves

because if we were truly naked
we wouldn’t want to be seen so bad

We go for cheap thrills
and word play
and eloquent nonsense
and zeugma, synecdoche,
and bull shit.

[I hate that part of the poem]

We prefer
beautiful lies
to ugly
truth.

We break ground
with structure
And there is
more
genuine pretension
than sorrow
or laughter

more gimmicks than guts

but maybe guts is a gimmick
and sometimes the only originality
left is
being a
bad imitator.

and it does
n’t
hurt if
the audience is
generally
ignorant

The writer wants to
be
worshiped
by everyone
less clever
than herself

He’s not depressed
He is ill
from a
mouthful
of abscessing teeth
corroded
by
nightly
vomit
from wine
and general
neglect.

He hasn’t brushed
for a solid week
in thirty years

You say you
never talk on
the bus.
I make a
scene wherever
I go.
Women are better
writers, sure,
but they are scared to
walk down
dark alleys.
That’s my edge,
and why I had
to pick a guy up
off the ground
by the dick for
getting violent--and because he wouldn’t give me a story.

I give my money away so I can steal.

But that’s bullshit too.

The status quo
says
to question the
status quo.

The writer
figures
how many words
he can put in a
space of time.
The master,
though he writes
day and night
,
fights to
write
as few
words
as possible.

He still manages two or three thousand a day.

Being a writer is
about as impressive
as buying a lotto ticket,
Even if he wins
he is still profoundly
and fundamentally,
a loser.
A famous no body
Made of common elements,
he thinks himself uncommon.
He will pick up a penny
just to write about it.
His hope is
that he eventually curries
favor with those he presumes he hates.
But he is the bare-bottom of intelligence.
Writing in general is for inferior souls,
and the superior spirits of this world never wrote a word.

Readers are even worse.

So read away
read all the greats
imitate the best
or just
put this trash down
and
write.