Lines Poem by Frank Avon

Hi Frank I DO hope you will soon feel better with restored energy as well as health! I am so flad my TAOIST POEMS have given you so much delight. They were also a delight for me to write. When I re-read them I sometimes think - DID I REALLY COME UP WITH THAT LINE BY MYSELF? And the answer is a gratifying YES. Partly, in fact largely I was capable of writing them because I have read so much CHINESE POETRY! I started way back in college in 1969 with Kenneth Rexroth's wonderful 100 POEMS FROM THE CHINESE, and then a year later his 100 MORE POEMS FROM THE CHINESE, and finally WOMEN POETS OF CHINA. I still have my copies of those volumes! But something magical happened when I wrote those, and I am not at all surprised I have not done more. Sometimes inspiration is a singular event - it has to be respected and not forced. That statement COULD be another one in its message but it doesn't come from INSIDE THE TAO!

And I say AMEN to those sentiments. Your poem has a perfectly pitched tone of both humility and pride. You express the humility directly in admitting your poetry will never match that of the shining lights of Poetic Tradition. But the pride (and this is in stark contrast to vanity) is suggested in your resolve to follow their example of creativity. And the things your poems help you understand - your Self, your era, your planet, both grief and grace - are all essential for a full life - one you can be proud to be living. This poem comes swiftly from your open heart and reaches into the closed hearts of your readers and opens them too.