Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott

I’m reading a book called Bird By Bird by Anne Lamott. She quotes a poem by Phillip Lopate. This poem is great and unfortunately reminds me of WAY TOO MANY people I know.

We Who Are Your Closest Friends

By Phillip Lopate

We who are
your closest friends
feel the time
has come to tell you
that every Thursday
we have been meeting,
as a group,
to devise ways
to keep you
in perpetual uncertainty
frustration
discontent and
torture
by neither loving you
as much as you want
nor cutting you adrift.
Your analyst is
in on it,
plus your boyfriend
and your ex-husband;
and we have pledged
to disappoint you
as long as you need us.
In announcing our
association
we realize we have
placed in your hands
a possible antidote
against uncertainty
indeed against ourselves.
But since our Thursday nights
have brought us
to a community
of purpose
rare in itself
with you as
the natural center,
we feel hopeful you
will continue to make unreasonable
demands for affection
if not as a consequence
of your disastrous personality
then for the good of the collective.

2 Comments

A Profile of a Creative Community « FeelingElephants's Weblog  on May 19th, 2010

[...] without a legal right to create insist on doing so, insist on making community, reminds me of the Phillip Lopate poem, “We Who Are Your Closest Friends” which Anne Lammott quotes in her Bird by Bird. It is a description of a secret club of the [...]

A Quickie with The Doctor (Dr Who’s Fans and What They Can Tell Us About Copyright) « FeelingElephants's Weblog  on May 19th, 2010

[...] without a legal right to create insist on doing so, insist on making community, reminds me of the Phillip Lopate poem, “We Who Are Your Closest Friends” which Anne Lamott quotes in her Bird by Bird. It is a description of a secret club of the [...]

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