Saturday, September 14, 2019

20190914.0430

What is a poem?
The question is trite
Its answer is not
Necessarily
It is an object of hatred
The recipient of the agent's action
Inculcated through bad work in the classroom
Across many years
Because if there is one student
At college
Who will ask
Will this be on the test
Or
Do I really need to know this
It will be the one who goes on to teach later
And it shows in the work
It is a gift
A package wrapped in filler
And boxes
And tape
And paper
That may or may not be pretty
For different types of pretty
And there always seems to be some other fold to open
Some other layer to be peeled back
Or something scrawled upon the wrapping
That had not been noticed before
But not all gifts are welcome
Some are given
Well intended
But ill considered
And some are the reverse
And some are last-minute purchases at a drugstore
Recalling that a gift is owed
If a gift can be owed
But not recalling why in time to make it a good one
So it is a token payment
Though what is purchased thereby is not certain
It is a screaming into the void
An assertion against the world that
I
Am
Here
And a confession that
I
Do
Not
Know
And an assertion that
Neither
Do
You
And an avenue through which we can both figure it out
If we try
But not so many want to make the attempt
As should
It is other things too
And in so being
Frustrates
Many
Who seek to have one answer to one question
Always and every time
Even though there is more often
More than one answer
Than one
And the answers change with passing years
What is a poem, then?
It will depend on who asks
And who answers
And where
And when
And that is as it ought to be

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