Conversation at the Publishing House
Poor cultures can afford poetry, wealthy cultures can’t – Les Murray
Who’s that on the phone?
I think it’s that poet again
He wanted something, didn’t he, I wrote it down–
Our publishing guidelines—
Tell him no one’s funding poetry
Tell him poetry strained a back muscle
Tell him poetry attempted a double
somersault with pike, landed on its belly
Tell him my bra strap’s loose
Tell him your shirt’s too tight
Tell him there’s a lot of competition
Words aren’t cheap
toads have warts
and ice-cream shouldn’t be left
in the car at the supermarket—
He’s just hung up . . .
Has he? Bloody poets
—Paul Mitchell
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originally appeared in a Melb Poets Union anthology