pure poet

I met a pure poet once. He dressed the part: A thrift store wool vest over a white shirt and beaten jeans. He was someone who wrote poems and worked as a cook in a restaurant. I don’t think he was ever recognized for his poetry in his lifetime. But I recognized him as a poet the first time I heard him read.

sweet disorder in the dress

Poetry will forever be too motley for dress of definition.

announce themselves

There are poets who announce themselves by how they dress. There are poets who announce themselves by the inventive ways they spell their names. And then there are poets who announce themselves with only a few words at the outset of a poem.