...so regrettably, I have to limit myself to this:

1) This bit of free verse isn't quite as bad (IMO, at least) as the post "How to Write a Hack Poem: Lesson #2" suggests (however accurate that thread is about contemporary "serious" poetry and classical music in general). It is thoughtful, touches upon a part of the human condition without trying (most of the time!) to see the whole world in a grain of sand, euphonic, well-paced, and gently emotive.

2) All the same, it definitely would work better as well-crafted prose than as well-crafted prose chopped up and made to pass as a poem. Even free verse ought to have a stronger sense of rhythm than "Abundance" does (or most of Pinsky's Picks do).

3) In the end, the one thing that "Abudance" doesn't have in abundance, and could use more of, is craft. Some time I'll have to post A.A. Milne's thinking about this sort of poetry -- the sort that uses only "what could come to anybody, inspiration" without making the effort required to express that inspiration through the power of form. This poem could be much more powerful if only it were somewhat more formal.

4) I think every modern creative writing major should be required to take a course in The Bible as Literature (or something like that), so as to develop an ear for the differences between poetry and prose as they exist in forms created apart from the use of Greco-Latin meter.

5) No parody this week (of the poem itself, anyway). The subject matter is too serious and deserves respect.

wr ()()