That silence is best: that action and re-
Action are equal: that control, discipline, and
Liberation are bywords when spoken by an appraiser, that the
    Accidental sometimes achieves perfection, loath though we may
      be to admit it:

And that the realm of art is the realm in
Which to look for ‘fishbones in the throat of the gang.’ Pin-
Pricks and the unstereotyped embarrassment being the contin-
    Ual diet of artists. And in spite of it all, poets ask us just what it

Is in them that we cannot subscribe to:
People overbear till told to stop: no matter through
What sobering process they have gone, some inquire if emotion,
      true
And stimulated are not the same thing: promoters request us to
      take our oath

That appearances are not cosmic: mis-
Fits in the world of achievement want to know what bus-
Iness people have to reserve judgment about undertakings. It is
    A strange idea that one must say what one thinks in order to be
      understood.

Readings

We All Know It read by Elizabeth McGovern
© Copyright 2025 The Josephine Hart Poetry Foundation. A charity registered in England and Wales number 1145062.