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Poetry 180 from the Library of Congress

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I’ve been through the series

A few times now

I’ve read

And taken notes

Cut-and-paste the parts

That one way or another get

To me,

Placing everything inside

A sort of commonplace book

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I speak

Electronically;

Everything for now

Is not on paper

But kept in columns

In the storage space

I rent

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And I wonder if

I take out the same parts

Of poems

Except the new ones

Year by year:

Take them out and keep them

In the way I keep the same parts

Via electrons

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It’s a terrific series;

I forget it’s not for me

(I am

the second audience

at best)

I mean, I don’t think Billy Collins

And the staff

Of the LoC mind that I read this

And keep it

And I like,

Even that I’m changed

Though not a highschooler

And not changed as one

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C L Couch

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https://www.loc.gov/programs/poetry-and-literature/poet-laureate/poet-laureate-projects/poetry-180/

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Photo by sarina gr on Unsplash

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