To replace every line with a better one until the poem was perfected--such was his simplistic thinking until Ezra Pound straightened him out, circa 1914, staring for weeks at a rotting fish until the poem was perfected. There had to be a better way!

Until Ezra Pound straightened him out Yeats sulked in Celtic twilight staring for weeks at a rotting fish, surfacing only to consult the Martians.

There had to be a better way to describe a red wheelbarrow!

Yeats sulked in Celtic twilight while Spicer and Duncan made world-series predictions, surfacing only to communicate with the Martians living in North Beach or Berkeley.

To describe a red wheelbarrow Wallace Stevens or that other poet whose name slipped my mind, while Spicer and Duncan made world-series predictions, squandering a family fortune and living in North Beach or Berkeley... No, that was somebody else.

Wallace Stevens, or that other poet, whose name slipped my mind delivered the infant Allen Ginsberg in Paterson, New Jersey, squandering a family fortune and marrying the woman whose face was on the nickel. No, that was somebody else.

In his old age he imagined that he had delivered the infant Allen Ginsberg in Paterson, New Jersey. It would have made a great story! Marrying the woman whose face was on the nickel was small consolation for a life of obscurity.

In his old age he imagined that he had once discussed Gertrude Stein with Picasso. It would have made a great story.

To replace every line with a better one was small consolation for a life of obscurity--such was his simplistic thinking. Once discussed Gertrude Stein with Picasso, circa 1914.

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Editor: Robert Basil. Special thanks to June Denbigh, Ray Szeto, and the Raylock Design Group.
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