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Bushel

William Ogden Haynes

“No man, when he hath lighted a candle,
covereth it with a vessel, or putteth it under a bed;
but setteth it on a candlestick, that they which enter
in may see the light.”—Luke 8:16

A writer friend of mine
has a bushel basket in his living room
half-filled with his published work.
He calls the attention of any visitor
to his collection of stories and poems
and watches them rummage through the basket.
And when they choose certain periodicals
he tells them how difficult it is to get
a piece published there.
Then he reads individual selections,
interpreting the stanzas and remarking
how some remind him of Whitman,
Neruda or Langston Hughes.
The blinding, brilliant light emanating
from that basket is unavoidable
and yes, it can be annoying.
Sometimes, I want to violate
the Biblical prohibition
against hiding our light.
I want to tell him to turn the bushel basket
upside-down over his poetry
and let the softer illuminations filter out
gradually between the wooden strips,
drawing me close so that I might
discover his genius all on my own.

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