Repeat, Repeat, Repeat; Revise, Revise, Revise Poem by gershon hepner

Repeat, Repeat, Repeat; Revise, Revise, Revise

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REPEAT, REPEAT, REPEAT; REVISE, REVISE, REVISE



Repeat, repeat, repeat; revise, revise, revise.
Nature always does, but we prefer to tell
each other different stories, aggrandized with lies,
repeating like repeated convicts in a cell
the sentences we’e all condemned to serve
each other in the hope that we will be paroled
if they’re believed to be the truth, and touch a nerve
that makes the lying story worthy to be told.

Helen Vendler writes about the correspondence between Elizabeth Bishop and Robert Lowell ('The Friendship of Cal and Elizabeth, ' NYR, November 20,2008) . and quotes from 'North Haven, ' the poem Bishop wrote to memorialize Lowell's death:

The Goldfinches are back, or others like them,
and the white-throated sparrow's five-note song,
pleading and pleading, brings tears to the eyes.
Nature repeats herself, or almost does.
repeat, repeat, repeat, ; revise, revise, revise.

11/16/08

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