Joseph Victor Milford- Two Poems

aesthetic pressure(s)

what is pure?
an ugly thing squirming
so hard to be a crystal
knowing all the while
that an ugly thing
craving its brilliance
would wear its coils
like pearls about
its face until that pure
porcelain visage
must be made pure by
crystallization under the most
intense pressure which 
it takes a planet to
make a diamond
or true voice

ars poetica revisited

I think that a poet is a giant callus who cuts pieces from himself 

until a dog comes along needing more

than he can handle.