By Lawrence Hall

Word Count: 130

Rating: G

Summary: a poem based on the words from Doctor Zhivago

“I used to admire your poetry…I shouldn’t admire it now. I should find it absurdly personal. Don’t you agree? Feelings, insights, affections…it’s suddenly trivial now. You don’t agree; you’re wrong. The personal life is dead in Russia. History has killed it.” -Strelnikov in Doctor Zhivago (film)

Don’t write to be approved by masters who

Wear Rolexes in the Name of the People

Don’t write to be approved by masters at all

But be your own authority and see

Your life – yours – is nobler than manifestos

The latest noisy Guelphs and Ghibellines

All Power to the Constituent Assembly

One folk, one nation, one waffle with syrup

Write freedom through verses, and disobey

Anyone who pushes you what to say