KEEPING A JOURNAL

The international bard
Rilke,kept a journal,
Soren Kierkegaard
the Danish philosopher
lodged an untidy diary
and the French novelist
Stendahl, the author
of Le Rouge et Noir,
had his forged bio. notes,
and the artist Delaquoix
drew on his own daily quotes
near his new canvas,
Verlaine and Rimbaud
let their words out
for future quarterlies
they wrote with persistence
and kept the arrogant details
whether in Paris or Africa
of their still life as partners
asking for justice
not to be embarrassed
or too ridiculous to fail
others thought it
was just preposterous.