It takes me four or five poems
To learn to read a poet.
I haven’t written many yet
So you and I don’t have that luxury.
I mean what I say but
Trouble saying what I mean.
If I draw a comparison
Please go with me there:
It is usually to a nice vacation spot
Like a beach or on a wing.
Granted many poets use
Ocean and avian metaphors.
I do too. I hope you’ll continue
To find them alternatively
Freeing or tragic.
If you come to a line
That doesn’t interest you
Skip it. If it’s better that way
Cross it out and mail it to me:
My editor is pretty ‘hands-off.’
If a poem spills
Onto a second page
It’s either because I couldn’t
Shorten it any further
Or because it became a friend
I wanted to properly introduce.
How else could I ensure
You spend enough time with it?
The word Love I use as I do
In year two of a relationship
When we can no longer deny
Each others’ flaws and when
For the first time the honied
Vision of our future ends
In my death.
If I make an obscure reference
Or literary allusion the poem
Can be as well understood
In ignorance and with a nod
To tradition might be tolerated
Forgiven or even enjoyed
Like a Christmas Tree.
So now if you please
Choose one: salt or pepper
Buying or making
Drum or drum-machine?
If you answered any of
These questions correctly
Please turn to the next page…
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