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41—To Get Read

January 29, 2015

by Gregory Betts

chapter and verse rehearsed flat
to get read you must stop writing

poetry animation must be
something said before
your body must be ee
ae, adverse, head, aa
a badge, an erasure, no name

go gaga, repeat
the classics, something drastic
be dead
do anything but read
give away chocolate
upload your head
collaborate with group narcissism

go treated
get banned, censored, cross the line,
subversive challenge
go into advertising
post your words, leave your words
get published
be the weakest and most fearful point
give away all your other colours

read
liberate libraries within
on tv in tongues
in words
one letter at a time
read, read at, constrain to,
simple things
beg, edit to write
hit on google
get read, get read
with 1000 monkeys
and take care to spell correctly

Pearl Pirie, derek beaulieu, Gary Barwin, Carmel Purkis, Garry Thomas Morse, Jacob Wren, Brian Bartlett, Miekal And, Alison Starkey, Warren Dean Fulton, Sharon Honywill-Haddow, Natalee Caple, Amanda Earl, Kemeny Babineau, Catherine Heard, Priscilla Brett, Kathleen Betts, Susan Shone, Joseph Brown, Carmen Racovitza


This poem “41—To Get Read” originally appeared in Canadian Literature 212 (Spring 2012): 120-21.

Please note that works on the Canadian Literature website may not be the final versions as they appear in the journal, as additional editing may take place between the web and print versions. If you are quoting reviews, articles, and/or poems from the Canadian Literature website, please indicate the date of access.