Advice to future
artists of genocide
child murderers
anthrax throwers
assassins of beloved leaders
& poverty-stricken poets:
1. Diction
No matter your eloquence,
New York editor coaching,
aping of Agee
apt aphorism
Dr. King cadence
lines that flow
& flaunt their Flaubert
it will be to no avail
2. Stick to simple causes
nothing geopolitical
excessively critical
or ending in -ism;
regardless you’ll be accused
of workaday solipsism
3. Form
limerick length perhaps
unantagonistically anapestic
or better still haiku
though it’s already decided
there is to be no coup
from your prejudged opus
& its long & rambling onus
4. Sentence
Still you shall have your appeal
awaiting a more just decision
in the solitary confinement
of endless revision
20 April 2012
“In Norway today, the far-right extremist who has confessed to murdering 77 people last summer took the stand for the first time. Anders Behring Breivik tried to justify his deadly shooting rampage with a long, at times rambling and contradictory, diatribe.” - NPR 17 Apr 2012