The thing that I like about poetry is

I can do whatever I want

and I can write about whatever I want

and now I wanna write about myself

and the way I feel about myself

and the way my feelings feel about myself

and I, myself, dedicate this poem to myself

and I can ; put semi-colons;

wherever I wanna put semi-colons;

and you can’t see me sitting at the

keyboard typing this poem about myself

but I’m dressed up like a tiger

and in fact I really am a tiger ;

and

people can’t make an entire stanza

out of one little conjunction

but tigers can ; and if you don’t

know what a stanza or a conjunction is then

and I don’t even have to finish my senten

or offer anybody a complete th-

and if I wanna change subjects

whenever I want, and if I wanna

use the word “winsome” even though

I don’t know what it means;

and another thing I like about poetry is

I can just introduce a new character

whenever I want, depending on how I feel,

and he’s a goblin and his name is Perry

and he’s winsome and he’s got an enchanted amulet

and Perry’s amulet is small but it’s really all a big

metaphor for post-modernism

and you’ll never see Perry again;

and another thing I like about poetry is

I don’t ever have to go to the library

or learn stuff about stuff; I mean; it’s so cool;

like I had this dream last night,

and I was a boa-constrictor;

munch-munch-munching on the marshmallow-flavored

bark of a Tummy-Tummy-Tum-Tum Tree

tubby bonk! tubby bonk! tubby tubby tubby bonk!

and all those old poets had to rhyme

and all those old poets had to go live

in the woods for a while and ponder

and sit on a boulder or stare at a stream

and sometimes people ask me,

“Why didn’t you pay your phone bill?”

and I just say, “I’m a poet,”

and sometimes people ask me,

“Why didn’t you put the laundry away?”

and I just say, “I’m a poet,”

and sometimes people ask me,

“Why’d you disguise yourself as your father,

withdraw all the money from his bank account,

and buy two-hundred and thirty-seven exotic rocks?”

and I just say, “You should have seen those rocks,”

and when somebody asks me

what I do for a living I just look

them right back in the eyes and say

“I make my living with this,”

and I point to my love-soul

and sometimes they say

“No, really, what is it that you… do?”

and I just say,

“I look at cactus, man… I look at cactus.”