John Harris


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Why I Have No Use for Hamlet

1.
The eternal graduate student
who hones his wit
by brutalizing women,
the shit;
dancing his verbal minuets
around dullards, he talks
to his very last breath, talks
other people to death;
conceited, in thrall
to his own complexities. …

Sweet prince,
I hate to tell you:
smartness isn’t all.

2.
Does anyone REALLY want
to see Hamlet anymore?
It’s an obligation, a chore,
the stage awash with blood
and secrets galore
because something (what, exactly?)
is wrong. …

Life is short, and Hamlet is too long.

John Harris lives in Savannah, Georgia. Poems of his have appeared in Rattle, Nimrod, and other publications. He’s working on a book of poems.