What authority stands behind the command
To tell it slant
The great poet certainly
But
Are we enjoined to treat all others as children
And likewise ourselves
And does the deuteronomy end here
Or are there more narratives of shame
Exhortations to repent
And directives to be obeyed

And surely the implicit stipulation
Tell it slant to tell it right
And hence enough to say
Tell it right
And everybody knows or else should know
To renounce theft
To forswear abstraction
Avoid slackness
And above all
Seek exile from the kingdom of oneself

Poetry is not morally good
And aesthetic goodness
What is it
Certainly not adherence to rule
Renouncing forswearing avoiding and seeking
What everybody knows or thinks they know
Comparing sunsets
Ranking kittens
Anatomizing simple pleasures
Betraying the electromagnetic spectrum