No, MaryAnn, thank you! I find over and over again, with no slight to R. Pinsky, to be sure, that the Thursday OPP is really where the choice stuff is. That is a matter for further study, perhaps.

In the meantime, I mentioned in my 'poem' (and it was most generous of you to refer to it as such) near the end that I considered the poem to be about both the power of the word and a snipe at critics, which, I think, is in agreement with your own final supposition, provided you replace critics with those who insist on inserting themselves into someone else's poems.

Regardless, I find the second offering, The Solipsist, to be captivating as well, particularly, for whatever reason, the attention-getting ending.

As with the first, there is both discipline and whimsy here, an admixture of tragedy and comedy, the pathos of (unwarranted?) hope in combine with the frolic of a sincere sense of humor.

A cantankerous reviewer might argue that the first of these poems requires so much work of the poet that it shows. I happen to admire the mental gymnastics involved and note without shame that my own humble attempt to imitate failed miserably.

The second, The Solipsist, strikes me as akin to rolling thunderheads: it seems to build from a simple notion about listening for the ocean in seashells, builds and builds into the final verse, a nearly zen-like plaint, and a powerful conclusion.

It is tempting to suggest that the first of these is more complex than the second, but while the first does require a degree of dexterity from both the writer and the reader, the second, I think, demands more of both eventually.

I like this guy's work and will be looking for more of it.

Take care,

Joe