The Truth
Nicanor Parra
I’m not going to lie
Through my teeth to you
Like the poets from Minnesota,
The South, and the West,
And New York City.
Most of all in life
I would like to fuck a thirteen-year-old again,
And I don’t have any hesitations
About saying I’d rather be Marlon Brando
Than I would T. S. Eliot, etc.
I have more respect for Muhammad Ali
Than any other living man.
Of course I’ve tried Esquire,
But my shoes aren’t platforms
And I don’t know shit about canoes.
Although I can’t prove it,
Most poets work for the highway dept.
There are more of them than there are
Flies and engineers.
And I stink like a dead mule under an overpass.
Copyright Credit: Estate of Frank Stanford © C.D. Wright
Source: Smoking Grapevine (Unpublished Collection)