In Plato's Republic, Poets Were Considered Subversive,

We'd Like To Just Write Nothing But Lyric Poetry. The Trouble Is, The Individual Is Going Along Intent On His Own Personal Gratifications And Love Affairs And Financial Affairs And Everything Else. But Loping Alongside Him Is This Fascist Lout Who Keeps Trying To Take Over. And If You Keep Ignoring Him, He Gets Bigger And Bigger, So Every Once In A While The Free Individual Has To Turn Away From His Private Pursuits And Give This Fascist Lout A Few Clouts, And Beat Him Down To Size.

I Arrived In San Francisco In January 1951. After The Second World War, The Population Was So Uprooted. Soldiers Came Back Home For Brief Periods And Took Off Again. So The Population Was Very Fluid, And Suddenly It Was As If The Continent Tilted West. The Whole Population Slid West. It Took 10 Years For America To Coalesce Into A New Culture. And The New Culture Happened In San Francisco, Not New York.

Recipe For Happiness Khaborovsk Or Anyplace' One Grand Boulevard With Trees With One Grand Cafe In Sun With Strong Black Coffee In Very Small Cups. One Not Necessarily Very Beautiful Man Or Woman Who Loves You. One Fine Day.

Western Civilization Has Been In A State Of Decline Since The Edwardian Age, Say 1910. That Was The Height Of Greco-roman European Civilization. Then There Was The First World War. That Was The Beginning Of The End. That Civilization Has Been In A Decline Ever Since. But From The American Triumphalist Point Of View Our Wonderful Electronic Revolution Is Really The Forefront Of An Ongoing Wonderful Civilization.

The State Of The World Calls Out For Poetry To Save It.