Correspondence
A friend, depressed. We argue over
the term. He says he’s functioning;
I say one can function, depressed.
Probably what counts is that he’s arguing.
And another, a new friend or contact,
a poet to whom I attack
the “autobiographical-elegiac”
mode. Everyone does it, I tell him;
you’re better than that. And wait
for him to tell me in effect he isn’t.
All this happens by email.
If they were letters, and I had written
two letters today, it would be
a good day for my biographers.
Realizing I’ve thought that
makes me feel guilty, talentless,
a fraud as well as vain.
And as I press Send and
my psychologizing and criticism,
composed with some strain
against the inherent tendency
of the medium, enter nothingness,
I think how one diagnosis,
error, accident, bomb,
or insight can replace
a universe of incalculable richness
with one of incalculable poverty.
Fred Pollack is the author of two book-length narrative poems, The Adventure and Happiness, both published by Story Line Press. A collection of poems, A Poverty of Words, forthcoming from Prolific Press. Other poems in print and online journals. Adjunct professor creative writing George Washington University, Washington, DC.