"Valentine"
Listen to Frank Bidart read this poem.
would not reassure the world he felt Resolve that too soon crumbled when he found something intolerable for which the word must be love Love craved and despised and necessary my bereft grandmother bereft How those now dead used love to explain
How those now dead used the word love bewildered
and disgusted the boy who resolved he
love until he understood love
within his chest
because no other word was right
must be love
the Great American Songbook said explained our fate
father bereft mother their wild regret
wild regret
Frank Bidart's most recent book of poems is Star Dust.
For Slate's poetry submission guidelines, click spacerhereyeshyperlinkPoetry SubmissionsSlate reads new poems from Oct. 1 to April 30. Manuscripts sent between May 1 and Sept. 30 will not be considered.To submit poems: Send, as a single attached document, up to three poems of no more than 50 lines each to editors@slatepoems.com. Use the poet's name for the subject line of the e-mail and for the title of the attachment. We prefer Word documents (.doc or .docx) to PDFs.Please include a brief, professional cover letter, including publication history, in the body of your email. Please limit submissions to one per poet per annual reading period. Simultaneous submissions are OK. Slate no longer accepts poetry submissions by mail. The email address editors@slatepoems.com is for poetry submissions only (or to notify editors of acceptance elsewhere of a poem under consideration at Slate). Other inquiries, etc., will not be addressed.10000false220061444537PMWednesdayJanJanuary161/4/2006 9:45:37 PM63271989937000000020061444537PMWednesdayJanJanuary161/4/2006 9:45:37 PM632719899370000000.Clickhere to visit Robert Pinsky's Favorite Poem Project site.Click here for an archive of "Poet's Choice" columns from the Washington Post.



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