“Doctrine" by sam sax

View this email on a browser Forward to a friend May 22, 2017   Doctrine   sam sax

the time for nuance is over i argue over breakfast explaining how it's oft used to confuse descent—knife through my poached egg. politicized work made all yolky, easy to consume & forget. i dab with the toasted bread agitation & propaganda i rant is the only just path for artists gesturing with my utensils heavenward. i've said a lot of things which in retrospect would've been better had i kept my mouth shut. i once said something to a friend i wont repeat here & now she's no longer my friend. ill never forget what her eyes did as i finished speaking stones in a bucket. words have consequences they're both material & reveal the spirit that speaks them. what i meant over breakfast is the time's too urgent for work that doesn't have blood in it. what i meant is insurgency is our birthright, that nuance comes from the french meaning to shade—why another painting of a lake when there's so much rage boiling outside the canvas? what does it mean i don't mean what i say when i say it? i don't know what i mean. silence is golden & gold's the standard measurement for capital. the golden rule is do unto others as you would have them do unto you. but what when they do you ugly first as they always seem to? i finish my coffee & it's political whether i want it to be or not.            Copyright © 2017 sam sax. Used with permission of the author. About This Poem   "I wrote this poem at The MacDowell Colony after finding myself in a conversation about political art vehemently arguing for something I later realized I don't necessarily believe in. While I'm primarily interested in artists whose work reflects the times, this poem is trying to figure out what exactly I mean when I say 'necessary' or 'urgent' poetry and to think through language's 'use' and 'utility' in writing and beyond." —sam sax   sam sax is the author of Madness, winner of the National Poetry Series and forthcoming in 2017 from Penguin Books. He has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, Lambda Literary, and The MacDowell Colony. He currently lives in Brooklyn, New York.   Poetry by sax   Madness (Penguin Books, 2017) "Taking My Father and Brother to The Frick" by Derrick Austin "not an elegy for Mike Brown" by Danez Smith "Disarming of Shadow, Arming of Light" by Rachel Eliza Griffiths 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. If you enjoy Poem-a-Day, please consider making a donation to help make it possible. 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