No Poem Is Worth Anything Unless It

The Gift Of Independence Once Granted Cannot Be Lightly Taken Away Again.

One Gets To The Heart Of The Matter By A Series Of Experiences In The Same Pattern, But In Different Colors.

The Award Of A Pure Gold Medal For Poetry Would Flatter The Recipient Unduly: No Poem Ever Attains Such Carat Purity.

But That So Many Scholars Are Barbarians Does Not Much Matter So Long As A Few Of Them Are Ready To Help With Their Specialized Knowledge The Few Independent Thinkers, That Is To Say The Poets, Who Try To To Keep Civilization Alive.

Never Use The Word 'audience.' The Very Idea Of A Public, Unless The Poet Is Writing For Money, Seems Wrong To Me. Poets Don't Have An 'audience'. They're Talking To A Single Person All The Time.