Jim Carroll - poet, memoirist (The Basketball Diaries, 1978), singer: August 1, 1949 - 2009…
—-
Jim Carroll: Valentine
The word
summons
to be bound
to cynicism
or elaborate expressions.
permutation
snakes through our lives
pasted
to seduce
to be
released, appropriately
unrelated
or something
lopsided
so that it can be
hard
and
warm
hope
from
your piece
to
please
to submit
—-
This poem, published as “Valentine” in Void of Course (p. 99), was first published in 1996 in a limited edition “collection” called Valentine. The image shown here is a scan of the poem as it was published, on a 2-3/8” x 8-1/2” strip of blue paper.
This poem is constructed from words and phrases in the letter the publisher sent to him inviting him to submit a poem, as shown in a scan of the actual letter with Carroll’s instructions written on it.

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