Ordinary finds

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.

Posted at 4:26pm.