0n Some Poets

"He is the dirtiest man I have ever liked."

—Igor Stravinsky on W. H. Auden

Reading filthy Wystan Auden

And foolish old Bill Yeats,

Browsing loony Robert Lowell,

I ask what makes them Greats!

Poor Pushkin was pistolled

In an imbecilic duel.

Baudelaire hated Belgians,

And Plath detested men.

Shakespeare was a butcher's boy.

Racine despised his roots.

So what is all the fuss about?

I write as well as them!

The trick, I think, is come up

With a celebrated phrase;

Be born at the right moment,

And live in famous days.

Friday, October 23, 2026