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Brian Patten
Brian Patten
(7 February 1946 / Liverpool / England)
Brian Patten Quotes
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''When in public poetry should take off its clothes and wave to the nearest person in sight; it should be seen in the company of thieves and lovers rather than that of journalists and publishers.''
Brian Patten (b. 1946), British poet. "Prosepoem Towards a Definition of Itself."
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The Right Mask
One night a poem came up to a poet
From now on, it said, you must wear a mask.
What kind of mask? asked the poet.
A rose mask, said the poem.
I've used it already, said the poet,
I've exhausted it.
Then wear the mask that's made out of
a nightingale's song, use that mask.
Oh, it's an old mask, said the poet,
