Here are two poems, snagged from the web, by David Lehman. They're not his
worst. Judge for yourselves.
REJECTION SLIP
"Oh, how glad I am that she
Whom I wanted so badly to want me
Has rejected me! How pleased I am, too,
That my Fulbright to India fell through!
The job with the big salary and the perks
Went to a toad of my acquaintance, a loathsome jerk
Instead of me! I deserved it! Yet rather than resent
My fate, I praise it: heaven sent
It is! For it has given me pain, prophetic pain,
Creative pain that giveth and that taketh away again!
Pain the premonition of death, mother of beauty,
Refinement of all pleasure, relief from duty!
Pain you swallow and nurture until it grows
Hard like a diamond or blooms like a rose!
Pain that redoubles desire! Pain that sharpens the
sense!
Of thee I sing, to thee affirm my allegiance!"
The audience watched in grim anticipation
Which turned into evil fascination
And then a standing ovation, which mesmerized the
nation,
As he flew like a moth into the flames of his elation.
APRIL 22nd
Hitler was not born at Braunau-am-Inn in 1889
He did not become Germany's chancellor on January 30, 1933
which happens to be the birthday of Franklin D. Roosevelt
who was not inaugurated that March
The Weimar republic did not fail
There was no ill-fated beer hall putsch in Munich in 1923
after which Hitler was not sentenced to nine months in prison
during which he did not write Mein Kampf
World War I did not conclude with the humiliation
of the Germans at Versailles
nor were the windows of synagogues and Jewish shopkeepers
smashed in November 1938
Furthermore you (who are a pretty typical American)
have never heard of Hitler, Roosevelt, Weimar, or the Treaty of
Versailles
for a very simple reason:
the only record of these people and events
is a novel that cannot be bought or sold
under penalty of death
This is my ode to Philip K. Dick
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