Status Updates From Poetry: A Modern Guide to I...

Man is the only animal aware of lack of
finish . ~ W. H. Auden

# Death # Frustration # Loneliness

If you care too much about what you have to say, if your heart is too much in it, you can be pretty sure of making a mess. Feeling, warm heartfelt feeling, is always banal and futile; only the irritations and icy ecstasies of the artist's corrupted nervous system are artistic .

For when the Gods created man, They let
Death be his share, and life
Withheld in their own hands.
Gilgamesh , fill your belly-
Day and night make merry,
Dance and make music day and night ...
Look at the child that is holding your hand,
And let your wife delight in your embraces.
These things alone are the concern of men

~ Epic of Gilgamesh

Oh lift me from the grass!
I die! I faint ! I fail!
Let thy love in kisses rain
On my lips and eyelids pale.
My cheek is cold and white, alas!
My heart beats loud and fast;
Oh press it to thine own again,
Where it will break at last.

~ from Shelley's Indian Serenade