my method is not a tenderness, but hope defined

Whereas the man who hits 

the gong dis- 

proves it, in all its 

simplicity — 

                        Even so the attempt 

makes for triumph, in 

another man. 

 

Likewise in love I 

am not foolish or in- 

competent. My method is not a 

 

tenderness, but hope 

defined. 

Listen to it here

 

[Robert Creeley {1926-2005} 'The Carnival', from The Collected Poems 1945-1975]