1Poets don’t have to be English professors
I swear,
They don’t have to sit at café tables
with leather-bound journals
contemplating nature and
emotions.
William Carlos Williams was a doctor.
Of course, the symmetry of his name
doomed him.
Poets can be construction workers
and businessmen and
bus drivers.
A poet can be anyone who
says anything beautiful and
true, which is redundant.
A poet can be anyone who
feels anything strongly,
who experiences the drama
of life and speaks about it.
A poet can be a girl
who works in marketing
and writes about luxury
retail and restaurants and hotels.
I swear.
Poets don’t have to write down
their poems – so many poems
are dripping from lips
right now.
The rhythmic, urban languages
of teenagers are poems,
People talking about the weather
is poetry.
Poems are in the air
I swear –
ripe for the picking
by any open hand.
