MAKING LITTLE POEMS: I've long been a fan of Robert Creeley, a poet perhaps most famous for his shrunken writing style. Creeley uses abrupt line breaks and bracing word juxtapositions almost like a minimalist carpenter might use only a few simple boards and a handful of nails...to create austere masterpieces.

For example, here's a favorite Creeley poem, titled I KNOW A MAN:

As I sd to my
friend, because I am
always talking, — John, I

sd, which was not his
name, the darkness sur-
rounds us, what

can we do against
it, or else, shall we &
why not, buy a goddamn big car,

drive, he sd, for
christ's sake, look
out where yr going.

Okay, so maybe you get it now, and maybe you don't, but for sure I'm not going to write a long academic treatise on Creeley's style or import. Let's just pretend you get him and you happen to share my fondness for his approach. Which leads me to...

...as I was looking at the last line of my last post, I got to thinking how many neat little poems I could make it into. Here's the line again:

"I know I never think like that."

And now some poems, each with unique titles:

ENLIGHTENED
I know I
never think like that.

PREJUDICE
I know
I never think
like that.

THEREFORE I AM NOT
I know I never think
like that.

DENIAL
I know I never
think like that.

NAVEL
I know I
never
think like that.