poem of the day 02.04.13

poems about being a poet

poets

do me a favor, please

stop writing poems about being a poet

those kinds of poems are just not interesting

and they’re as common as taking a morning shit

or farting in bed

it’s no hard business being a poet

try lifting windows and doors for twelve hours a day

or working the register

at a grocery store on a sunday afternoon

after all of the salivating sheep have finished with church

or if you have

write about that instead

but stop it with the poems about being a poet business

reading poems like that

are like brushing my teeth or putting on socks

they are common and every day

and there is no way to spruce it up

by calling yourself a revolutionary

or linking yourself to the poets of the past

mentioning ezra, jeffers, bukowski, or any of the others

add nothing to what is banal and simple-minded

writing about being a revolutionary poet in a capitalist state

is akin to pissing in the wind, my friends

go get a starbucks coffee and stream some television show instead

i mean if you’re going to put art into the world

at least make it of interest to something more than a common housefly

or write about a common housefly

there could be an immortal poem in you

about a common housefly

but i can almost guarantee there will be no immortality

writing poems about being a poet

there’s only redundancy and boredom

writing about things like that

so stop

stop for me

stop for you

stop for the good of mankind

check out a sunset and drop a verse about that

go and get laid and give us all of the salacious details

jack-off on the morning bus

and have the straights haul you away into the madhouse

then spin that shit for a page or two

but no more poems about being a poet

because if that’s all that you have in you

why not take up something soft

like knitting

or politics.