Formal Constraints

painting by boris vallejo

FORMAL CONSTRAINTS

Now the poem
is saying
what it is forced to say
by its history, its form
thus pleasing the reader
who knows he can trust it
without being obliged
to regard
any statements it may make
as accurate
or “true.”
The poem is ridding itself
and us
of the burden
of abstraction –
a valuable service.
Still
a question arises
as to how
to dispose of the poem
once this divestment
is complete.


Rae Armantrout

Posted over on Poems and Poetics