Poem in the Modernist Manner by David Lehman

View this email on a browser Forward to a friend October 6, 2014   Poem in the Modernist Manner   David Lehman

They were cheap but they were real, the old bistros. You could have a meal, drink the devil’s own red wine, and contemplate the sawdust on the floor, or fate, as the full-fed beast kicked the empty pail.   The conspiracy of the second rate continued to reverberate. Everyone wanted to get his licks. Everyone said it was a steal.   So the girl and I stayed out late. We walked along the shore and I campaigned some more. And the city built with words not bricks burned like a paper plate.            Copyright © 2014 by David Lehman. Used with permission of the author. About This Poem   “‘Poem in the Modernist Manner’ is from a book of poems in progress called Poems in the Manner Of. I began writing the book twelve years ago—on the principle that when I write as if I were someone else, something good may happen. I have written poems in the manner of Cavafy, Neruda, Baudelaire, Holderlin, Rilke, Auden, Mayakovsky, Dorothy Parker, Emerson, Dickinson, Yeats, Frost, Borges, Bukowski, W. C. Williams, Robert Lowell, and ‘Wallace Stevens as rewritten by Gertrude Stein,’ among others. ‘Poem in the Modernist Manner’ sneaks in allusions to Auden and Eliot, and the atmosphere and attitude owe something, I think, to the modernists of the Pound generation.” —David Lehman   David Lehman is the author of New and Selected Poems (Scribner, 2013). He teaches poetry and literature in the New School Writing Program in New York City. Most Recent Book by Lehman   New and Selected Poems (Scribner, 2013) "Since Nine O'Clock" by C. P. Cavafy "Lullaby" by W. H. Auden "History" by Robert Lowell Poem-a-Day   Launched during National Poetry Month in 2006, Poem-a-Day features new and previously unpublished poems by contemporary poets on weekdays and classic poems on weekends. Thanks for being a part of the Academy of American Poets community. To learn about other programs, including National Poetry Month, Poem in Your Pocket Day, the annual Poets Forum, and more, visit Poets.org.   You are receiving this e-mail because you elected to subscribe to our mailing list. If you would like to unsubscribe, please click here.   © Academy of American Poets 75 Maiden Lane, Suite 901, New York, NY 10038