Unfolding beneath its ambitious title, former U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky’s poem is both canny and playful. In four spare stanzas, “Leadership” conjures a bar scene from the long-ago of youth and transforms anecdote into something like parable.
—Jody Bolz, Poetry Editor
LEADERSHIP
Off-season in Provincetown. The sleepy bar
Had a projector to show old movies upstairs.
The cone of light, the reels. That long ago.
What was the movie? “On the Waterfront” maybe.
The audience was us young painters and writers
Thrilled to be with Grace Paley. Pitchers of beer.
A stranger came in and chose to sit at our table.
When the projector lit up and started to clatter
The strange guy rose and stood in front of the lens.
Hey man, you’re in the way. Get down in front!
Violence afoot. He wouldn’t move, but Grace
Said “Sit down, Honey” and he did and there was peace.
Robert Pinsky’s new book of poems is Proverbs of Limbo. His autobiography, Jersey Breaks, is now in paperback.
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