Today's Poem - by Marge Piercy

I don't usually repeat authors when I present the poems of others... but with poet Marge Piercy, who is better known as an activist and political writer... I can't just select one. You'll love both today's and tomorrow's. Today's poem tells of the real life of a writer, by one who has pursued her craft for 50+ years.



~~~quid







For the young who want to

Talent is what they say

you have after the novel


is published and favorably


reviewed. Beforehand what


you have is a tedious


delusion, a hobby like knitting.






Work is what you have done


after the play is produced


and the audience claps.


Before that friends keep asking


when you are planning to go


out and get a job.






Genius is what they know you


had after the third volume


of remarkable poems. Earlier


they accuse you of withdrawing,


ask why you don't have a baby,


call you a bum.






The reason people want M.F.A.'s,


take workshops with fancy names


when all you can really


learn is a few techniques,


typing instructions and some-


body else's mannerisms






is that every artist lacks


a license to hang on the wall


like your optician, your vet


proving you may be a clumsy sadist


whose fillings fall into the stew


but you're certified a dentist.






The real writer is one


who really writes. Talent


is an invention like phlogiston


after the fact of fire.


Work is its own cure. You have to


like it better than being loved.






-Marge Piercy