Selection #4

Selection #4

Just initials.
The person
(age, gender, I've no idea)
wrote
of the death of literature
and the very same week
a bold young woman
wrote me jauntily
she was "trying to wean her professor off
Shakespeare," whom she described as irrelevant.
She wanted to talk to me,
but I thought she should talk to Initial-Being:
"Literature died a long time ago,
along with any concept of a shared
cultural identity
over the nature of art."
True I am way too interested
in hiding out in static cultural artifacts
but if the I assume young people are right
there's nothing I can do about
the state of affairs. Anyway.
I told her, "Define relevant." And, "Beware of your demand
for 'new' - it might not exist."
Then again it might.
I wanted to tell her, "You can't judge a thing worthless
until you know its worth," but I thought
that might be pushing it.
I wanted to call her a young and very arrogant little
snot, but just as Mr. or Ms. Initial warned me,
I have no tribe behind me
and nobody does.
Splintered shards of mirror
lie on the floor
reflecting the ceiling
at crazy angles.

--Deanna Hopper