I want my poem to scream out so loud
that you will hear it even if you are not
paying attention or are busy with other things
you think are more important than poetry.

Too often my poems just lie on the paper,
or are dead pixels on a screen, whispering
what I wanted shouted, but I am so often
a prophet with profound laryngitis.

My poems should warn you, should
lead you in a better direction, should
comfort you in difficult times, but they
must be read to have a voice and so few

care about poetry today, we poets are
no longer nightingales nor are we canaries
at the mouth of the mine but are seen
as vultures waiting for something to die.