What poems can do*

poems can't persuade someone to love you
or disavow the fear of loving you
poems can't calm the rages you indulge
or erase the bruises you regret
poems will not dry your eyes
won't even dry your laundry
they are poor friends
who need you more than you need them
but still

when you take them out to coffee
you will pay their way
and when you speak about them to your friends
be kind.

* revised: simpler

these fearsome marvels · What poems can do

only if you must

these fearsome marvels · "One Art" (E. Bishop) / "only if you must"

I said I'd never practice art.
Art hurts more than love,
and Rilke's sympathetic curse
came bundled with a bypass clause
past pain and joy and
trials of the self,

to work and fuck and say your prayers
above two dinners after lunch,
if your eyes are big enough.

But love hurts and to fail in love
hurts most
because failure is, of course, an art.