how to write a POem

how to write a POem

Start this morning. Finish last night.

Use words.

Leave the dishes. No, do the dishes. Start

the poem.

suck/draw/hoover

from everywhere,

everything, yes-

terday, childhood,

tomorrow, the paper, play, sing

WASH the dishes, DRY the dishes, TURN the dishes O-ver

Love the words. Have them

for breakfast. Dream them, wake

them up in the middle of the night

for a cuddle, a rehearsal, tuck

them back in, crumple them

up, flatten them back out,

splash them

all over everything.

Go build a crooked shack, learn

Arabic, get a job with a long

commute on a train.

Wash the children's faces

and send them out to play.

Write the poem.