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The Next Poem.

Publisher	Modern Poetry Association
Publication	Poetry
Subject	Literature/writing
Format	Magazine/Journal
ISSN	0032-2032
Issues per Year	12
Volume	184
Issue	2
Published	2004-05-01

Role	Type	Name
Author	n/a	Billy Collins

The Next Poem

   Whenever the question comes up,
   the poets all say the same thing:
   the only poem we're interested in is the next poem,
   the one not written, the poem of tomorrow.

   It's a perfect answer,
   which conjures up a bit of hope
   and manages to place on the higher tray
   of the scale of pride a gram of modesty.

   But the problem is
   as soon as you start to write it,
   the next poem no longer is the next poem,
   rather just another poem you are writing,
   and the next poem has become
   an imaginary mushroom waiting
   in the future in a dark forest of...

[This journal article is 226 words long]