22 January 2006

Further Notice

I can't live in this world
And I refuse to kill myself
Or let you kill me.

The dill plant lives, the airplane
My alarm clock, this ink
I won't go away

I shall be myself -
Free, a genius, an embarrassment
Like the Indian, the buffalo

Like Yellowstone National Park.

Philip Whalen (1923-2002)

1 comment

Anonymous said...

Hung on the wall in my livingroom/kitchen is a framed broadside of this poem. One of my favorites!

Massey