This Is Not a Poem

I try to say to myself,
to form the words
“I am a poet.”
I can’t.
When I read these lines I feel
discomforted, embarassed,
ashamed.
I am no bard. I
don't even know
what makes these lines
poems.

So think of them as dreams:
strange, irrational,
unpredictable, inexplicable,
inexhaustible—
the stories of our secret selves.

 

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This page created and maintained by David Flanagan Ithaca College Dept. of Writing flanagan@ithaca.edu Last modified 10 Nov. 2000 All rights reserved