Do Not Fling Poetry into Foolishness

The poet Merwin thinks about the whim

That language uses us.  He doesn’t say

That this is just a playful notion.  Slim

That whimsy, though of course it’s fun to play

With half-time silliness.  Yet then the game

Is quite another dumbness, ain’t it?  Why

Pretend stupidities?  Why daydream lame

Delusions?  Was his poetry not high

Enough a calling?  Was his whimsy just

A springboard for a poem when he had

No other inspiration?  Was this dust

Not something he could brush away as bad?

  A poet should not be so gasping that

    He writes up foolishness that WHAM! goes splat.

~ Phillip Whidden