in memoriam Carol Novack and Kerry Leves
“he told me that writing poetry was the most beautiful thing anyone could do on this godforsaken earth”
-Roberto Bolano
The writing of a poem
Is problematical
As life itself:
Where did it come from?
Why is it here?
What does it mean?
Then it settles itself
Into ink, infused
Into the fibres of a page,
Signifying much, little
Or nothing much at all,
Or otherwise shimmering
Pixels on a screen,
In the e-tombstones
Of two dead poets,
Our friends, who wrote
Beautifully for reasons
Beautifully unclear,
Now departed to compose
In places we the living
Know not where.
Larry Buttrose
31 December 2011
