David Shapiro, "A Burning Interior"

A major poem by a major poet. The version printed here doesn't have the dedications and titles that appear in A Burning Interior (the book), and which enrich the poem considerably.

"When a poet is weak,
like a broken microphone,
he still has some power,
indicated by a red light."

For me that describes David himself, a poet who knows he's immensely powerful as a poet even when he feels discouraged.

"Who but he
Would talk to a teapot."