Poetry is memorable speech, you say? <br />Yes, I heard a young man in Dublin when I was there <br />cursing and swearing on a street corner. <br />I shall never forget it. <br />Like the master of dispassionate intensity he was <br />how he beat down on the swear words <br />with the stress on sprung rhythm in a shipwreck. <br /> <br />I myself am Irish, a bit. Red Irish. Celt <br />for rages and hard drink. <br />Memorable for action as for speech: <br />real buggers to swear and fight. <br /> <br />OK, forget the Irish, forget swearing <br />cursing and all low speech, <br />good only in bad categories of low boys <br />up to no good. Sorry I brought it up. <br /> <br />But still I've got you, I win. <br />You mistake a smile for joy <br />a sword for the death thrust <br />the quill for Shakespeare <br />and the palette for the painting. <br /> <br />Poet, you must see a symbol for what it is. <br />Speech, however memorable, is just a symbol <br />that, more or less, chances a happy match <br />in the voids where the meanings are. <br /> <br />Oh, but come, let's shake hands and make peace. <br />We are both wrong probably. Or right. <br />No, don't pull me apart. <br />Instead let's define and argue something easy. <br />Wave-particle duality? Yep, piece of cake.<br /><br />Patrick Dennis<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/an-argument-with-a-british-poet/
