lucinda

“…Then, I said to myself:

'HISTORY IS HUMAN NATURE—;

TO SAY I AM GUILTY

IS TO ACCEPT IMPLICATION

IN THE HUMAN RACE. . .'

—Now, for months and months,
I have found

ANOTHER MAN in me—;

HE is NOT me—; I

am afraid of him …”
― Frank Bidart, Half-Light: Collected Poems 1965-2016

“The law is that you
must live

in the house you have built.

The law is absurd: it is
written down nowhere.

You are uncertain what crime

is, though each life writhing to
elude what it has made

feels like punishment.”
― Frank Bidart, Watching the Spring Festival: Poems

“God said: GOD MADE YOU. GOD DOES NOT CARE IF YOU ARE "GUILTY" OR NOT. I said: I CARE IF I AM GUILTY! I CARE IF I AM GUILTY!... God was silent. Everything was SILENT.”
― Frank Bidart, Half-Light: Collected Poems 1965-2016

“1. Man is a MORAL animal.

2. You can get human beings to do anything — IF you convince them it is moral.

3. You can convince human beings anything is moral.”
― Frank Bidart, Half-Light: Collected Poems 1965-2016