Hard Tack                                                         


            A celebrated poet hectored me
            For misinterpreting his lines
 
            “You missed the point” he argued
 
            I replied “Which one?”
            And then went on to ask
            The eminence
            Before he signed his book
            To dedicate it to the
            Reader who would take the time
            To savour every seasoned word and phrase
            Until they carried him or her
            Wherever the unhurried taste allowed
 
            Unless, of course,
            He wanted us to chew on
            Nails


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            Emanuel E. García, The Virtues of Calamity, One Hundred Poems2013