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Miss Manners: How do I avoid my neighbor’s awful poetry?

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April 16, 2024 at 12:00 a.m. EDT
3 min

Dear Miss Manners: An acquaintance of mine has taken to writing poetry. It’s awful: full of unnecessarily obscure words, commonplace observations presented as profundities, tedious self-ruminations, etc.

I’ve heard enough to last me a lifetime, but whenever I encounter this individual, they announce excitedly that they’ve written a new poem and ask me if I’d like to hear it. Before I can respond, they pull out their smartphone and begin reciting. This individual lives in my apartment building. Short of moving, what can I say or do?