Thursday, May 17, 2012

The Creative Brief for My New Publicist


To Gillian Welch

It’s to you I owe
Such infinite thanks
For laying the foundation
Of my newest business plan
To make all of my best poems and
Stories completely free

Never really believing
In the sanctity
Of copyright law
It stands perfectly
To reason that
I would end up
Going down this
Contrary path
Not competing
With ASCAP
But making
My separate way
Asking nothing at all
Other than full permission  
So that each good and kind reader
May only receive my poems gratis
Having first acknowledged
Me in return as confidant
And fully trusted even
If not intimate friend

My business strategy
Being -- for those of you
Who care to know --
That simply by
Making everything
I most value freely at
The world's disposal
My poems may be better known
And beyond that
I don’t know or care
Whatever ensues

Not Walt Whitman
Not William Blake
Neither Li Bai
Nor Du Fu
Ever thought
A bit differently
About their own work
So the very same recompense
That proved acceptable
To the greatest poets
Shall be good enough for me
So look for me under your boot soles
Or on the Internets
As the case may be

No comments:

Post a Comment