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    AC Benus
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Poetry posted in this category are works of fiction. Names, places, characters, events, and incidents are created by the authors' imaginations or are used fictitiously. Any resemblances to actual persons (living or dead), organizations, companies, events, or locales are entirely coincidental.
Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you. 

1940, 1970 and Today – plus other poems - 9. every word

.

Poem No. 19 [10]

 

quote in a letter to Joseph Blass,

attributed to Shakespeare

 

“What could be the odds, minds over the miles

Might meet each other in the same idea.”

 

 

 

Poem No. 20

 

“Some say fire, some say ice” –

but they’re not fooling me any.

I know the world’s damning price

will be exacted to the penny

through a marketing device.

 

 

 

Poem No. 21

 

How sweet the hard sunshine scents

the softer things below it.

 

 

 

Poem No. 22

 

We architects of the West

have to exorcize our Classical demon,

or simply learn to exercise him better.

 

 

 

Poem No. 23

 

Every word writes

‘More alone than before.’

 

 

 

-----------------------------------------------------

[10] “What could be the odds” Joseph Blass was a Lebanese-Québécois friend of mine in Tokyo. This Montreal native left not too long after we met, and I remember his next stop was Russia’s far east. He sent me letters from his voyage on the Trans-Siberian Railway, while reading Dostoevsky’s Brothers Karamazov, which he raved about. Although decades ago now, he’s still one ahead of me, as I’ve yet to read it. But Joe’s glowing reviews have always stayed with me, as well as his sweet, accommodatingly patient ways with me when we dated.

_

Copyright © 2023 AC Benus; All Rights Reserved.
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Poetry posted in this category are works of fiction. Names, places, characters, events, and incidents are created by the authors' imaginations or are used fictitiously. Any resemblances to actual persons (living or dead), organizations, companies, events, or locales are entirely coincidental.
Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you. 
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Poem 19 made me smile wide and wider. It is so true. Poem 20 stirred me to recall those many times I’ve counseled students to look deeper at the antagonisms which appear in our popular culture. Poem 21 is the best, however, especially after an afternoon spent weeding in the garden. 

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On 6/17/2023 at 10:01 AM, ReaderPaul said:

Once again, an amazing economy of words with tremendous meaning and resonance.  Very well said, @AC Benus!

Thanks once again, ReaderPaul. That a person's work connects with others is the best feedback one can hope to receive (for me at least). So thank you

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On 6/17/2023 at 1:47 PM, Parker Owens said:

Poem 19 made me smile wide and wider. It is so true. Poem 20 stirred me to recall those many times I’ve counseled students to look deeper at the antagonisms which appear in our popular culture. Poem 21 is the best, however, especially after an afternoon spent weeding in the garden. 

Thank you, Parker, As for the faux Shakespeare quote, I'm suddenly put in mind that the idea of minds meeting over miles is indeed in one of the Bard's W. H. Sonnets :) As for the hard sunshine, I now wonder if this is a "lost" Jimmy poem. Thinking of the smell of sunshine makes me think of him; he'd wear his Levi's jeans jacket while riding his motorcycle in summer. The scent of him, sun-kissed in this way, is yet to leave me 

Edited by AC Benus
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