So You Want To Be A Poet

if you are in it for cash
change genres

now study the rules:
bend them
break them
see things
differently
see things
that aren’t there

sometimes
it is not what you
write
but what you don’t

read
read
read
then
write

revision feels like
clean underwear
after a weekend of not finding
your own door

be a word lover
not a word whore
stand on the corner
like Brautigan and give
it a way for free

dance like Micheline and yell
it from the streets
the alleys
drink wine on roof tops
like Bill Taylor &
seek shelter
in afternoon bars

don’t try to
simulate
regurgitate
the dead poets
find your voice
then light the fuse
throw it into the night
like a Molotov cocktail
waiting to explode

give a reading in a laundry mat

if you buy a bookstore
don’t screw
your fellow poets
raise the young ones
celebrate the old ones

never call yourself a poet
that is for others to decide

try oral sex with words

take your pick, either style
if you want to be a poet
practice cunnilingus
with syl- la- bles
until she screams

OMG
yes
yes
YES

then close your eyes
avoid clichés
like there is no tomorrow
grab the world
by the ass
and never stop