specialist

in general--useless.
the Renaissance man shivers in the gutters,
jobless. homeless. loveless. but not
pastless!, nor futureless!--misery too is forward history.
he knows too much, not too little
who cannot shuffle papers without mourning cartography.

walking mends his sidewalk-chilled bones,
down Forbes to an annoyed corner and left, into slums.
here's the problem: They claw for new thoughts
leaving older better images behind;
no money in remembering. cigarette clusters
outside lecture halls jockeying for mental primacy
never admit they dislike Homer. here's the problem.
i'll teach them to smell the Grecian sea--
but even such thoughts anticipate! solve!
attempting a New approach even to the ancients;
for who escapes modernity's crippling touch?
libraries carry the internet today, mostly.


how many there are, never self-doubting success
or failure; is that itself not both?




2/5/09