NATIONAL POETRY MONTH - 4/30: CUZ WE POETS

Sometimes
we don't sleep
cuz we poets
and
these words
they be like
caffeine
Red Bull
speed
once we git ta
concoctin’ verses
ain't much we
really wanna talk
to a pillow about
till what we got ta say
is said
don't matta that
our eyes feel like
they just been slammed
by sandstorm

ain't our fault

nothin’ we can do
that's what happens when
you a poet

these words they

bum-rush at inopportune times
like
at the doctor's office
on the examinin' table
at a job interview
durin’ a work-history spiel

or
on the freeway

unnanounced

at high pace
here they come
delegatin’ us a story
all-fired urgent
make us start cussin'
cuz we ain't got no
damn paper
or pen
and they act like
they think it's funny
when we scramblin'
tryna find us a way
ta scribble down what they say
see us in a panic
start spittin’ fasta
full stanzas
no punctuation
ta even give us a chance
ta pause
just racin' thru our dome like Flo Jo
’bout ta have us crashed-up
behind a 5-star metaphor
that if we don’t
capture
in the next twelve seconds
that bitch will

pull a Houdini ...
and escape

damn shame

the way these words

run us

sweet-talk us into

callin’ in sick

skippin’ meals

near-bursted bladders

ingnorin’ texts

cancellin’ plans

showin’ up late

leavin’ early

but

cuz we poets

we let ’em

cuz we ain’t alive

without ’em

so we do

what they say

when they say

how they say

till they say

it’s ova

©2013 Charlene E. Green