THE POET VS. THE STATE

Ruth Lubin
 "Lines ran through my head as I
Born: January 2, 1917, Boston, Caucasian Female
 vacuumed, dusted, and cooked. I meant
3409 Creston Avenue, New York City
 to write them down and some did get
Graduated:  James Monroe HS, Commercial Course, 1934
 written, but not the way I wanted to
Filing Status Change: Married (to Jerry Schechter, June 9, 1939)
 do it. The very comical or sardonic commentary making
Social Security#:  O88-10-8984
 its journey around my brow had a way of sounding
Dependent Child: Daniel Issac, June 27, 1941
 melodramatic, banal, even worse. Writing it down is
Dependent Child: William Edward, September 30, 1946   different. Another source, another way of doing it. When the
92 Van Cortlandt Park So.
 the prose writer becomes a poet in compressed language, it's like
Bronx 63, NY
 a salmon going horizontal steam, or as we say, some of us
KI 8-0140
  ...against the tide. Prose rose from my mouth in torrents. Poems
120 Gale Place
 arrived on the page, never quite saying it all. Therefore
9 Van Cortlandt Place, Croton-On-Hudson, NY 10520
 and however, one poem necessitated
914-271-3144
 another. I swam in a river of
Died: May 2, 1989
 words, spoken, unspoken,
Medical Record#: 000279203
 jotted on the backs of grocery slips or
Death certificate#: 5932-130
 spoken, not always to

Cremation#: 118376  
the right person or at the right
Lot 9561/Grave 27
 time. Obviously... "

1989

All written material © Bill Schechter, 2016
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