By Lawrence Hall
Word Count: 130
Rating: G
Summary: a poem based on the words from Doctor Zhivago
“I used to admire your poetry…I shouldn’t admire it now. I should find it absurdly personal. Don’t you agree? Feelings, insights, affections…it’s suddenly trivial now. You don’t agree; you’re wrong. The personal life is dead in Russia. History has killed it.” -Strelnikov in Doctor Zhivago (film)
Don’t write to be approved by masters who
Wear Rolexes in the Name of the People
Don’t write to be approved by masters at all
But be your own authority and see
Your life – yours – is nobler than manifestos
The latest noisy Guelphs and Ghibellines
All Power to the Constituent Assembly
One folk, one nation, one waffle with syrup
Write freedom through verses, and disobey
Anyone who pushes you what to say