How to Enjoy a Poem

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How to Enjoy a Poem
     "Beyond the desert of criticism we wish to be called again." - Paul Ricouer

 Slow down.
                 Read like it's a Saturday afternoon,
sunny (let's say 65),
and you are wandering down
                                        the rows
                                          of words
like a California vineyard.
You'll long to pluck and press
the juicy lines before their time,
the ones just dripping with flavor,
but don't just yet,
for unripe fruit is bound
to lose its savor.

No, first you must stroll the vineyard's
length and breadth and back again
a time or two, and not in haste -
feel the sun,
smell the air, enjoy - when this is done
(and only then)
should you go back to taste
the waiting fruit now ready.

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