...as for publishing he advised me
to paper my wall with rejection slips
his lips and the bones of his long fingers trembled
with the vehemence of his views about poetry

he said the great presence
that permitted everything and transmuted it
in poetry was passion
passion was genius and he praised movement and invention


I had hardly begun to read
I asked how can you ever be sure
that what you write is really
any good at all and he said you can't...

W.S.Merwin Berryman at Off The Wall Anthology