Ars Poetica by Leslie McGrath

View this email on a browser Forward to a friend August 24, 2016   Ars Poetica   Leslie McGrath

To have even a lotto chance   of getting somewhere within yourself   you don’t quite know but feel   To cling to the periphery through the constant   gyroscopic re-drawing of its provinces   To make what Makers make   you must set aside certainty   Leave it a lumpy backpack by the ticket window at the station   Let the gentleman in pleated khakis pressed for time   claim it   The certainty not the poem.            Copyright © 2016 Leslie McGrath. Used with permission of the author. About This Poem   “I wrote ‘Ars Poetica’ with my students in mind, nudging them away from pursuing a poem as a goal, encouraging them to be more comfortable with uncertainty.” —Leslie McGrath   Leslie McGrath is the author of Out From the Pleiades: a picaresque novella in verse (Jaded Ibis Press, 2014). She teaches at Central Connecticut State University and lives in Essex, Connecticut.     Poetry by McGrath   Out From the Pleiades: a picaresque novella in verse (Jaded Ibis Press, 2014). "Soul-Sight" by Archibald MacLeish "Mimosa" by Mary Ruefle "Forever" by Paul Laurence Dunbar Poem-a-Day   Launched during National Poetry Month in 2006, Poem-a-Day features new and previously unpublished poems by contemporary poets on weekdays and classic poems on weekends.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