Alyson Cook

A Circular Oddity
My argument was dismissed
as circular, which meant
round and round and round,
and, sure, I could go round
and round the same subject,
and, as friend J observes,
many of the great artistes
went round and round too.

My statement was simple:
the poet laureate of the US
Library of Congress was ineluctably
a fellow from the established order,
someone who did not make waves
or rock the established-order boat
in any way whatsoever.

But, as mentioned, the Ivy League
PhD professor dismissed that argument,
that direct observation, as circular.
Thus, I asked how it could be
any other way with poets laureate,
and she wrote, in the spirit of debate:
So I will not be responding to future emails.*
……………………………….
*Williams College professor Alyson Cook