On Being Great

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 On Being Great 

Inspired by Dana Gioia and R S Gwynn’s Art of the Short Story


Tonight is one of those nights, again.

Each biography of this deck of cards

ends in illness, poverty, or both. 


In the world of “everything works out

for me,” where do we file Zora 

Neale Hurston? Or Poe, or Cheever—


What if the cost of being great is making 

yourself sick and losing everything?

Do you still do your best, Carver? 


Or just move on with your life? 


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