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Abstract

lost faith in the sound-bite Tik Tok generation lamenting that <i>nobody reads anymore</i></p><p id="a662">but you play devil’s advocate — <i>does not poetry lend itself to this fast, apocalyptic, impatient age?</i></p><p id="a4b9">maybe this shows the ultimate longevity of poetry</p><p id="9166">from Homer to Lao Tzu to Lucan to Hafiz to Halevi to Tu Fu to Dante to Pope to Plath to Rodriguez to hip hop</p><p id="2fe9"><i>what will these Medium poems mean one hundred years from now?</i></p><p id="c8ba">like those before us we travel blind, deaf to our own significance, numb to our insignificance</p><p id="1c45">maybe the truth is both, somewhere in-between, and we are fated to be both blessed and damned for eternity</p><figure id="9275"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*9dP2_icIlKvdNfSJ_tRIBA.jpeg"><figcaption>Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/@jrkorpa?utm_content=creditCopyText&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=unsplash">Jr Korpa</a> on <a href="https://unsplash.com/photos/water-droplets-on-glass-window-ISlAfxGsNH4?utm_content=creditCopyText&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=unsplash">Unsplash</a></figcaption></figure><p id="3827"><b>© Carlo Zeno 2023</b></p><p id="c641">__________________________</p><p id="9024">Tha

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nks for reading, and thank you to the team at <a href="https://medium.com/scuzzbucket">Scuzzbucket</a>. Here are two more recent poems in case you missed them 🙏</p><div id="dd71" class="link-block"> <a href="https://readmedium.com/barely-above-water-5b715f47900c"> <div> <div> <h2>Barely Above Water</h2> <div><h3>In service to the few</h3></div> <div><p>medium.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/1*ahJ49UJhIRedTNmGOIncRw.jpeg)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div><div id="03c9" class="link-block"> <a href="https://readmedium.com/the-sky-is-falling-frank-c2d9e86fb5dc"> <div> <div> <h2>The Sky Is Falling, Frank</h2> <div><h3>Just keep doing what you’re doing</h3></div> <div><p>medium.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/1*od5cLR_xKW7D64VWw8_yYQ.jpeg)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div></article></body>

Both Blessed And Damned

To all of the writers and poets

descent blue rain dark, dark heart

what demon drives you? why can’t you put down the pen?

arrest the impulse kill it with rationalism destroy it before it destroys you

is it an angel or devil who speaks? or is it an envious ancestor trying to pull you back down into your dirty genetic soil?

you descend from farmers, fishermen, grocers

who are you to call yourself a writer?

for every one Hemingway or James Baldwin or Flannery O’Connor, there are a million unknowns

might as well sign your poems anon

even the brilliant Philip Roth quit writing as he lost faith in the sound-bite Tik Tok generation lamenting that nobody reads anymore

but you play devil’s advocate — does not poetry lend itself to this fast, apocalyptic, impatient age?

maybe this shows the ultimate longevity of poetry

from Homer to Lao Tzu to Lucan to Hafiz to Halevi to Tu Fu to Dante to Pope to Plath to Rodriguez to hip hop

what will these Medium poems mean one hundred years from now?

like those before us we travel blind, deaf to our own significance, numb to our insignificance

maybe the truth is both, somewhere in-between, and we are fated to be both blessed and damned for eternity

__________________________

Thanks for reading, and thank you to the team at Scuzzbucket. Here are two more recent poems in case you missed them 🙏