The Education of a Poet
Then listens to her mind's perverse debate
On whether what she does serves any use;
And that is all she needs for an excuse
To spend all afternoon and half the night
Enjoying poems other people write.
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Disclaimer
We do not accept unsolicited submissions. American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation (www.poetryfoundation.org), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Leslie Monsour’s newest book of poetry is The Alarming Beauty of the Sky (2005) published by Red Hen Press. Poem copyright © 2000 by Leslie Monsour and reprinted from The Formalist, Vol. 11, by permission of the author. Introduction copyright © 2024 by The Poetry Foundation.