1125. The Battles of the Pen and the Scissors - Shem Tov Ardutiel (pen name Santob De Carrion)

Excerpt From The Battles of the Pen and the Scissors (CE 1345) by Shem Tov Ardutiel (pen name Santob De Carrion)

Writer, you hold a flame in your hand,

or is it the blade of a sword or a spear-- 

the tree of knowledge of good and evil,

or a staff to make wondrous signs appear?

Are there words enough in all of song

to praise the pen? Who else could bear

the burden of bringing back the past

and preserving it then as though with myrrh?

It has no ear with which it might hear,

or mouth with which to offer answers,

and yet the pen, in a single stroke,

at once does both—observes and remembers.

At night he says “Tomorrow I’ll write,”

but there nothing at all to back up his words;

the heaven’s frost caught in his face,

and the cackling of mocking ice is heard.

Don’t pride yourself on tomorrow’s prize,

when you have no notion of what it hides.

1124. Autobiografia Literaria - Frank O'Hara

 

When I was a child

I played by myself in a

corner of the schoolyard

all alone.

I hated dolls and I

hated games, animals were

not friendly and birds

flew away.

If anyone was looking

for me I hid behind a

tree and cried out “I am

an orphan.”

And here I am, the

center of all beauty!

writing these poems!

Imagine!

1123. Earthing - Billy Collins

 

You have probably come across

those scales in planetariums

that tell you how much you

would weigh on other planets.

You have noticed the fat ones

lingering on the Mars scale

and the emaciated slowing up

the line for Neptune.

As a creature of average weight.

I fail to see the attraction.

Imagine squatting in the wasteland

Of Pluto, all five tons of you,

or wandering around Mercury

wondering what to do next with your ounce.

How much better to step onto

the simple bathroom scale,

a happy earthing feeling

the familiar ropes of gravity,

157 pounds standing soaking wet

a respectful distance from the sun.