The liquor’s gone,

singing’s over.

Nothing to do but

sweep up the hall.

Everything’s been written

on every conceivable subject;

poets are hunkering down

hoping for a drought.

Letters are littering the pathways.

Words are going for a dime a dozen.

It is useless bemoaning

the state of the art.

No one comes to poetry readings,

so what’s the use of all this writing?

It’s not as if you will wake one day

and be famous.

Still, the sound of silver sentences

keep ringing even if you don’t write

them down.  Listen! the bell is still

tolling in your belfry.

EVELYN KANDEL is the current Nassau County Poet Laureate. The author of four published books of poetry, her work appears in numerous anthologies and journals. She teaches adult poetry classes in Great Neck Cumberland School, LIU’s Hutton House and Glen Cove Public Library (now on-line).