PRESIDENT OF THE POETRY SOCIETY OF AMERICA

I WAS President — not of the United States, —
No, of something much more unique,
Much more subtle — I was the President of the Poetry Society!
Long ago, one of America's greatest statesmen
Said he would rather be right than President —
I would much rather be President than Wright!
Anyway, Wright could never have been President —
He did not have the power of public opinion — or was it Current Opinion — behind him —
And then, too, they elected me President because of my judicial manner and my reserve of speech —
Wright's speech is torrential, —
He is about as reserved and as silent as Niagara —
He could never have controlled himself as I did,
When the authors of unpublished poems were being slaughtered —
My calm was never ruffled — My smile never altered,
No one of those authors ever knew how I felt about their poems —
And now they never will know,
For I am dead —
And though I would not rather be Wright than President —
Sometimes I think I might
Rather be dead than President of the Poetry Society!