Teaching the Rocks to Swim: 2012 Attys Entry by Lee Rudolph

Villanelle: You Have a Problem

You have a problem, so you want to solve it.

It is so ugly, anyway, with that mean face

that (as we say) only a mother could love it.

Differential diagnosis: a bad habit

is not a neurosis, which is not madness;

you have a problem, so you want to solve it.

Clarify your relationship! Do you have it?

Does it have you? Are you both in a bad place?

That (as we say) only a mother could love it

is axiomatic: you will never leave it

till you can bear it, nor can it release

you. Have a problem? So? You want to solve it?

You think you can use acid to dissolve it

to particles, or burn it, or freeze it whole in ice?

That? As we say, only a mother could. Love it!

You’ll get nowhere with that knife. If you halve it,

you know how both halves will grow back up. Yes,

you have a problem, so you want to solve it;

well, as we say, only a mother could love it.