Poetry International Poetry International
Poem

Ali Alizadeh

Good Idea?

Good Idea?

Good Idea?

Fin-de-Siècle France
much more congenial

to the glum exuberance
of your thoughts. Exile

in the land of mediocrity
and gum-trees, no doubt

unjust as Ovid’s. Our Caesar
a banal bureaucrat who

jogs around a lake
in Canberra. “Intellectuals”

debate base quackery
in our desert island’s

bored media. Nearly
buried by the sandstorm’s

insignificance, I asked
for a good idea. My thesis

a pauper’s grave,
withered formulae; since

the thirst for life
often kills. I was, frankly,

serious. You: “Then again
there are no good ideas”

and discoursed
with obstinate, burning

exactitude the belief
of doubt. Abelard lost

his balls for this. You
may be the last cynic

in the barren domain
of odious and senseless

pastoral optimism;
the strained and resilient

rope flung toward
my hands sinking in

the sand of the island’s
so-called culture, or lack

thereof. Amen.
Close

Good Idea?

Fin-de-Siècle France
much more congenial

to the glum exuberance
of your thoughts. Exile

in the land of mediocrity
and gum-trees, no doubt

unjust as Ovid’s. Our Caesar
a banal bureaucrat who

jogs around a lake
in Canberra. “Intellectuals”

debate base quackery
in our desert island’s

bored media. Nearly
buried by the sandstorm’s

insignificance, I asked
for a good idea. My thesis

a pauper’s grave,
withered formulae; since

the thirst for life
often kills. I was, frankly,

serious. You: “Then again
there are no good ideas”

and discoursed
with obstinate, burning

exactitude the belief
of doubt. Abelard lost

his balls for this. You
may be the last cynic

in the barren domain
of odious and senseless

pastoral optimism;
the strained and resilient

rope flung toward
my hands sinking in

the sand of the island’s
so-called culture, or lack

thereof. Amen.

Good Idea?

Sponsors
Gemeente Rotterdam
Nederlands Letterenfonds
Stichting Van Beuningen Peterich-fonds
Prins Bernhard cultuurfonds
Lira fonds
Versopolis
J.E. Jurriaanse
Gefinancierd door de Europese Unie
Elise Mathilde Fonds
Stichting Verzameling van Wijngaarden-Boot
Veerhuis
VDM
Partners
LantarenVenster – Verhalenhuis Belvédère