HOW A WANNABE WRITER SHOULD READ A LITERARY MASTERPIECE

At arms length with elbows straight,

for bent elbows bring the work and forehead too close

blurring the boundary between uniquely inspired and insipidly derivative,

or worse—plagiarized.

Yet one must read,

for reading one great work is worth an entire Iowa writer’s workshop,

and there’s no tuition charge to read it.

Arms will tire, shoulders ache, and elbows strain—

Oh, how they’ll strain, such a rigid straight-arm posture.

Fingers fidget. Grab a blank page.

Now bend. Let elbows relent, but just a bit.

Forehead closer but then close enough.

Too close and vision blurs

yourself , the masterpiece, your scribbled letters on a pristine page,

all a jumbled focus.

Like neighboring neurons that must never touch,

it’s the distance between that fires the spark.