Copyright � 2013 by Charles Bernstein. Used with permission of the author.
About This Poem
"I have a companion poem in The Sophist (1987) called 'Why I Am Not a Christian' (taking my title from Bertrand Russell's book of the same name), which has two lines echoed in this poem: 'You always throw it down/ but you never pick it up?' Then in Girly Man (2007) I have a poem from 1988 called 'Why I Don't Meditate': 'Mental health is probably overrated--a little anxiety/ is a great source/ for poetic composition & besides I prefer sitting/ on chairs with heavy cushions & a footstool/ if at all possible'--a poem both sophistical and sincere (a favorite combination).
My concern is more What is false? than What is truth?
All true poetry comes from deep fear, immobility, timidity. (I love Walter Benjamin's essay on H�lderlin's timidity.) This is our common ground, our temporal consanguinity (blood ties).
Charles Bernstein is the author of numerous books of poetry including Recalculating (University of Chicago Press, 2013). He is the Executive Editor and co-founder of The Electronic Poetry Center at SUNY-Buffalo. Bernstein teaches at the University of Pennsylvania.
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