SHAM OR GENUINE

 

                                            As a writer, are you a subnaturalist,

                                            A naturalist, an antinaturalist,

                                            Or a supernaturalist, viz. dramatist,

                                            Novelist, philosopher, or poet?

                                            Are you of the Father or the Mother,

                                            Of Christ or the Holy Ghost?

                                            Is your work aristocratic or plutocratic,

                                            Technocratic or meritocratic?

                                            Do you write it on its own true level -

                                            Philosophy in aphorisms, poetry in free verse -

                                            Or on some higher or lower level,

                                            Depending on the genre?

                                            And is what you write applicable to

                                            The genre in question,

                                            Like worldly appearances to literature

                                            And heavenly essences to poetry?

                                            Are you a muddlehead or a genius,

                                            Sham or genuine?