ars poetica
Poets have continued to expand upon the central tenets of Horace’s work, closely examining the role of poets themselves as subject, their relationships to the poem, and the act of writing.
Here is a contemporary version, written by Leslie McGrath
Ars Poetica
To have
even a
lotto chance
of getting
somewhere
within yourself
you don’t quite know
but feel
To cling
to the periphery
through the constant
gyroscopic
re-drawing of its
provinces
To make
what Makers make
you must set aside
certainty
Leave it
a lumpy backpack
by the ticket window
at the station
Let the gentleman
in pleated khakis
pressed for time
claim it
The certainty
not the poem.
“I wrote ‘Ars Poetica’ with my students in mind, nudging them away from pursuing a poem as a goal, encouraging them to be more comfortable with uncertainty.”
—Leslie McGrath
Copyright © 2016 by Leslie McGrath. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on August 24, 2016, by the Academy of American Poets.
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