Monkey and Poetry Convergence: Dennis Cooper and James Tate edition

Dennis Cooper has good taste in poetry. Which is how I came across James Tate's "Teaching the Ape to Write Poems."

Teaching the Ape to Write Poems

They didn't have much trouble
teaching the ape to write poems:
first they strapped him into the chair,
then tied the pencil around his hand
(the paper had already been nailed down).
Then Dr. Bluespire leaned over his shoulder
and whispered into his ear:
"You look like a god sitting there.
Why don't you try writing something?"

(James Tate, from Absences, 1972 Little Brown & Co.)