51% Demon, 49% Angel

A very short essay about poets

Photo by Laura Chouette on Unsplash

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In college, I was the student driver for a famous poet—if poets can be said to be famous. She warned me that poets are among the most jealous and devious people in the world.

“If you ask a poet to read for ten minutes,” she said, “then you can bet your life they’ll read for twenty-two. The most deadly thing a poet can say is ‘Maybe I’ll read just one more.’”

But then she told me how she used to regularly bail another famous poet out of jail. She said, "He'd always end up behind bars when he hallucinated that he was Jesus. I kept bailing out Jesus and I'm not an adventurous Christian—I'm Presbyterian."

Then she laughed and said, "Every poet is 51% demon and 49% angel. And if that's not your ratio then you’re a bad poet."

She laughed again and said, "None of this is true. All of it is true."

She was a binge alcoholic who wrote mostly in iambic pentameter. A regal drunk who penned elegant sonnets. Her scent was red wine and honorary PhDs. She gave me a kiss on the cheek when I dropped her off at the airport.

“Someday,” she said. “You’ll be a handsome man instead of a pretty boy.”

Then she said, "Poets tell themselves they can change the world. We say such things aloud because the world barely pays attention to us. Never forget this, young man, the only people who think they can change the world are silly utopians, evil totalitarians, and poets.”

I never saw her again. I love her poems. And I loved her, too, despite our brief time together.

The last thing she said: "When you read a poem you like, send a note to the poet and tell them how much you liked it. That's the way you change the world."