Ars Poetica
for Alec Finlay
The sayable
in nouns
in syllables
is nuance
As if a flock
of small birds ate
the feeder but
left the nuts
—Alan Halsey
Ars Poetica
‘Statements of fact are not funny’
wrote John Burnet, and
‘Thoughts that are wholly unreasonable
do not admit of artistic expression.’
This was in 1914
and with regard to Greek philosophy
but neither circumstance
entirely accounts for such errors.
—Alan Halsey