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On ceasing to blog: Do not go gentle

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The poetry foundation announced on Monday that it was reconfiguring its social-media engagement, scaling back its blog in favor of Twitter and Facebook. It will turn its blog, Harriet, into a an intermittent, multimedia, poetry-focused online venue, with no comments -- in other words, not quite a blog anymore.

Well, I liked Harriet, and I thought she was a keeper, maybe more of a keeper than the addictive but easy-to-tire-of Twitter and more of a keeper than the privacy-averse, social-network-du-jour Facebook. As a plea not just to the Poetry Foundation but also to any bloggers whose energy flags, and with a big and apologetic nod to Dylan Thomas, we present ‘Do Not Go Gentle Into That Internet Fog.’

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Do Not Go Gentle Into That Internet Fog
by Dylan Thomas
remixed by Carolyn Kellogg

Do not go gentle into that internet fog,
Writing should burn and rage complete
Rage, rage against the dying of the blog.

Unwise men think sentences do bog,
But what can be said in just a Tweet?
Do not go gentle into that internet fog.

Good men at laptops watch agog,
Their words sucked into a Facebook data sheet
Rage, rage against the dying of the blog.

A wild man who drinks the German grog
Leaves updates, a 4G phone -- he’s indiscreet!
Do not go gentle into that internet fog.

Grave men crave followers and flog
And flog for more with desperate heat
Rage, rage against the dying of blog.

And you, dear poets, know writing is no slog
The ebb and flow of words is sweet
Do not go gentle into that internet fog,
Rage, rage against the dying of the blog.

-- Carolyn Kellogg

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