You probably imagine that
the life of the poet is one of great
excitement and adventure.
There are moments that might
be deemed exciting or adventurous
but those happen just as often
in the lives of those who despise poetry.
And believe me, poetry is not only
not a career, it’s not a job unless you
sit in some city square and offer
to write a short poem for anyone
offering you a dollar, a prescription
for homelessness and starvation.
The life of a poet is setting aside time
to stare at a blank page of a journal
trying hard to imagine words appearing
and organizing themselves into
neat lines and stanzas, then
you put the Journal away in frustration
promising yourself to try again tomorrow.