Gumball Poetry - Poetry by Greg Bachar

Greg Bachar

Be An Otter

It must be strange to become a Poet,
to have learned how to replace all 
the haggard empties with fill-in-
the-blanks. It must be strange to 
become anything and stay that way
for the rest of your life. There 
are other ways to survive without
having to say "I Am This" or "I Am
That." Why become? And if someone
does ask what you are, lie, make 
something up: if you're a Poet,
say you're a Plumber. If you're a
Plumber, say you work at the zoo,
and that an ostrich was sick today.

Greg Bachar lives in Seattle, Washington. See his other poems this issue: Conduit and A Chime For His Ache.

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12.01.2000
Yendys Jahnaleep Aabacid from Richland Center WI

I am spider, hummingbird, dragonfly and frog
It's not so strange to become anything, the strange thing is to stay that way. I write poetry, so am I a poet? No, I'm a plumber. I photograph trees, so am I a photographer? No, I'm a tree. I don't have to say I am this or You are that. You and I, we are Soul. Nothing more, nothing less.

11.02.2000
Tina B. from Belchertown...near Northampton...Ma

Wonderful!
Greg Bachar is a talented wordsman. 'Become An Ottor' is an enticing prose poem that took me on a ride inside.

10.02.2000
red from east vacnouver b.c.

last line
the best part of this poem is the last line. I detect in it a sense of wishfulness about the fantasies we maintain about our lives and ambitions. It makes these fantasies seem light and airy rather than heavy and embarrassing. which is nice.

9.09.2000
Porridgeface

Labels and tales of the riverbank
Not a bad idea, "don't" get labelled", but the title is not well-connected to the content and the content is a little to much direct advice and not enough poem.

8.01.2000
Philip Dacey from Marshall, Minnesota

Quietly scathing.
The poem demonstrates a light touch while making a most serious point. It does so with great insouciance, with a wink and a smile, yet does so firmly. The poem is good medicine. It's quietly scathing in the face of self-deception, self-flattery, self-aggrandizement. It balances perfectly between innocence and knowledge of its innocence.