Guilty

Guilty

awry spontaneity 

blacklisted, 

the pen sabotaged

unaccepted advances

towards poetic lines

we drove there easily

once

the ink won its battle in court

and the poet courted his verse

tried and true and familiar

now strangers sit on the jury

no peer poets to vote

just maladjusted critics

he curls up in a ball of anonymity

and throws himself

into the receptacle

along with his poems.

erin-cilberto

6/18/24

Reviews

[Patricia Wedel]

Can a Poet be Quilty of feeling Blue when the Sky has clouds of Doubt...
We love to share our Romantic Rendezvous... and remove the shadows surrounding Summer solitude...wishing you a Healthy Barbecue on the Fourth of July, 2024. God bless America as Fireworks blend Colors of Ecstasy... Delicately, Pat

[jacob erin-cilberto]

I actually did have barbecue, but since I could not go out with my walker...I had Mrs. Callender's mac and cheese with pulled pork on it. That was my bbq...cheers...
j.

[emmajoygreen]

I often wonder if it is the name of the poet or the work she/he creates that win the laurels, jacob?! You balance your craft, neither judging self nor your reviewers. Takes true ability, courage, sanity and a sense of humour to do that, sir!

[jacob erin-cilberto]

for some writers, the name...like Stephen King...people might read anything he churns out because it is Stephen King.
And Maybe Ferlinghetti or Ginsberg, the name matters and entices...
but what about Sharon Olds...and she is so good once we stop and notice her.
thank you for your words, em.
j.

[Gee]

It is often our least "liked" pieces that are the ones others find most appealing, strange eh. Have had a bit of a pasting on here over the last week or so but it will not deter me from throwing stuff out there to be read and judged.
Hope you are keeping well Jacob

[jacob erin-cilberto]

I have the same feeling...that happens to me too often...stuff I almost throw out gets the best reaction.
doing fine...recovering from my foot surgery....
Stay Gold!
j.

[Gee]

Hope you are mended soon Jacob. Take care

[Soren]

The first stanza sets the scene. A stacked jury and worse still I venture to say we ourselves serve on this jury judging ourselves guilty before we even start. How often we are our own harshest critic. Sometimes our poems judged upon misinterpretations. I particularly like the last stanza
"he curls up in a ball of anonymity
and throws himself
into the receptacle
along with his poems."
There was a time long ago that I wrote poems for others but now conformed to anonymity I write for myself. I still publish them more out of curiosity as to what others think than anything else. Another one of your wonderful posts Jacob.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

when I first wrote poems it was survival for me...had to....now they just come as they please...I have no control and feel more like a conduit than a real poet.

[Soren]

That conduit is the real poet Jacob

[Lydia Shutter]

When I start to write a poem that everyone but me would love, I find all sorts of reasons it is not worthy. Still, we continue to write and post on the internet....where strangers judge our words. Where we reveal a bit of ourselves between the lines. We are vulnerable to the reader. Somehow, that is okay with me. Lydi**

[jacob erin-cilberto]

and where we often find out the poems are better than we thought...we cannot judge our own work, we are too close to it.
thanks Lydi,
j.

[h d e rushin]

Ameri Baraka said of Whitman and Ginsberg "that just placing yourself out there naked with nothing to shield you from the pain of loneliness or obscurity makes you, beloved, always the guilty one". Innocent poets don't take the 5th. They agree to the receptacle of all sharp and dangerous things. dana.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

Amiri is one of my favorite poets...

One of the first Beats I read. Thank you for your words, dana,
j.

[Andrew John]

I feel guilty and awry with my poems sometimes, too. Good to read about this guy, though, Jacob.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

Thank you for your kind words, Andrew,
j.

[Poetic Beauty]

We are our own worst critics and it is hard when someone rejects our work. We put our blood and souls into our poems and it hurts when we are told they aren’t good enough. But we always come back to the paper with pen in hand

[jacob erin-cilberto]

Once I sent to a magazine and got this wonderful reply to my work...it was hand written and in quotation marks said "Nope"---i didn't write for weeks after that.

[Sami Khalil]

Reminds me of Trump and his cover ups, sexual endeavors.
He surely courted them with money and power.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

Yeah, what a nice guy eh? and he will probably be our next president...the oval office might be a jail cell.
j.

[Sami Khalil]

Hehehe! You are welcome sir Jacob.