Written by
Steve Kowit |
A noun's a thing.
A verb's the thing it does.
An adjective is what describes the noun.
In "The can of beets is filled with purple fuzz"
of and with are prepositions.
The's
an article, a can's a noun,
a noun's a thing.
A verb's the thing it does.
A can can roll - or not.
What isn't was
or might be, might meaning not yet known.
"Our can of beets is filled with purple fuzz"
is present tense.
While words like our and us
are pronouns - i.
e.
it is moldy, they are icky brown.
A noun's a thing; a verb's the thing it does.
Is is a helping verb.
It helps because
filled isn't a full verb.
Can's what our owns
in "Our can of beets is filled with purple fuzz.
"
See? There's almost nothing to it.
Just
memorize these rules.
.
.
or write them down!
A noun's a thing, a verb's the thing it does.
The can of beets is filled with purple fuzz.
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Written by
Steve Kowit |
Now that I've unplugged the phone,
no one can reach me--
At least for this one afternoon
they will have to get by without my advice
or opinion.
Now nobody else is going to call
& ask in a tentative voice
if I haven't yet heard that she's dead,
that woman I once loved--
nothing but ashes scattered over a city
that barely itself any longer exists.
Yes, thank you, I've heard.
It had been too lovely a morning.
That in itself should have warned me.
The sun lit up the tangerines
& the blazing poinsettias
like so many candles.
For one afternoon they will have to forgive me.
I am busy watching things happen again
that happened a long time ago.
as I lean back in Josephine's lawnchair
under a sky of incredible blue,
broken--if that is the word for it--
by a few billowing clouds,
all white & unspeakably lovely,
drifting out of one nothingness into another.
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Written by
Steve Kowit |
This evening, the sturdy Levi's
I wore every day for over a year
& which seemed to the end
in perfect condition,
suddenly tore.
How or why I don't know,
but there it was: a big rip at the crotch.
A month ago my friend Nick
walked off a racquetball court,
showered,
got into this street clothes,
& halfway home collapsed & died.
Take heed, you who read this,
& drop to your knees now & again
like the poet Christopher Smart,
& kiss the earth & be joyful,
& make much of your time,
& be kindly to everyone,
even to those who do not deserve it.
For although you may not believe
it will happen,
you too will one day be gone,
I, whose Levi's ripped at the crotch
for no reason,
assure you that such is the case.
Pass it on.
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