The Best of Poems

I once fashioned myself a poet
But then I started kindergarten
So I put dreams on hold.

Until senior year, when the
University was
Forced to admit me to a
Poetry composition seminar.
Like poetry, there were
Rules and
They had no choice.
Neither did the Professor,
Nor my fellow serious students.

I was serious too.
Although I didn't dress all in
Black - more likely all purple,
And I didn't
wear Prominent Glasses
Despite having 20/20 vision,
And nor did I smoke
Clove cigarettes,
I was a serious poet
About to
Spew forth unimaginable
Poetic delights.

I labored and
Labored and
Labored to
Translate
Transcendent
Thoughts into
Fragmented sentences;
Searching to find the
Unfamiliar to
Capture the
Simple;
Seeking to
Distinguish the
Absurdit from the
Sublime.

The first time, and
Only time,
I shared
A carefully constructed
poem, I
Experienced the
Fulfilling, albeit
Fleeting,
Euphoria of my
Tangled and
Disjointed consciousness
Resonating with others.

Before I uttered the
Penultimate poetic
Word, twelve hands
Flew up in the air to
Comment and
Construct.

"She was angry at him for
not loving her,
And he was angry at her
for loving him."

Eureka! My
Favorite passage...the
Climax.
I couldn't wait to send the
poem to my
Kindergarten teacher.
At last,
Redemption.
Next hand?

Indeed, a
Powerful
Emotion.
I had struck a chord and
Provided
Nourishment for
Thought.
Next hand?

"She was angry at him for
not loving her,
And he was angry at her
for loving him."

Indeed -- my words
Even
More
Profoundly
Brilliant than I,
Myself, could
Comprehend.
Next hand?

"She was angry at him for not loving
her,
And he was angry at her for loving
him."

This must be my fuure: a
Budding
Poet Lauriat's cross to bear --
"Our"
Trifling woes...
Politely thanking Readers for
Sharing Their
Relational and Reflective experiences
No matter how Repetitive or
Redundant or
Recurring.
Next hand?

"She was angry at him for not loving
her,
And he was angry at her for loving
him."

Perhaps,
Patience not my virtue and
Paradoxically antithetical to
Practice,
What about the o
Other
Twenty-three pages of the
Poem?
Next hand?

"She was angry at him for not loving
her,
And he was angry at her for loving him."

An Authentic Anglophile -- my first
AA Group,
What about my
Subtle literary references to
Barrett Browning's How Do I Love
Thee?Chaucer's The Love Unfeigned?Finch's The Apology?
Keats' To Hope?
Marlowe's Who Ever Loved, That
Not Loved at First Sight?
Rossetti's Bride Song?
Tennyson's Marriage Morning? and
Sid Vicious' My Way?
Next hand?

"She was angry at him for not
loving her,
And he was angry at her for loving
him."

Yo!
What about the
Allegories
Analogies and
Alliterations
And my late-blooming
Sophomoric,
Jejune and
Puerile
Life-questions?
Next hand?

"She was angry at hinm for not
loving her,
And he was angry at her for loving
him."

Sisters and Brothers 0
What about the
Tug, pull and sway of the
Iambic pentameter?
The reminiscient
Choppy rhythms of
Classical
Composers lacking
Consonants:
Chopin, Devorak, Rachmaninov,
Shostakovich and Tchaikovsky, to
Name many.
Next hand?

"She was angry at hinm for not
loving her,
And he was angry at her for loving
him."

Oy Vey!
What about the
Overwhelming,
Overpowering,
Overstated,
Overloaded,
Overworked and
Overkill
Omnipresence of
Onomatopoeias?
Next hand?

"She was angry at hinm for not
loving her,
And he was angry at her for loving
him."

Knock,knock - is anyone
Home?
what about the
Right-side in,
Right-side out,
Right-side in and
Shake-it-all-about
Hokey-Pokey
Punctuation?
Next hand?

"She was angry at hinm for not
loving her,
And he was angry at her for loving
him."

Blimey!
What about the
Intelligently
Interspersed foreign
language
Refrains -- most notably,
the
Literary renowned
Dithers,
Hithers,
Thithers,
Quivers,
Withers and,
Of course,
Gods and Goddesses of the
Guinness
Induced
Poetry of the
Stout Irish?
Next hand?

Ah, finally, the
Esteemed Professor --
Thirteen had always been my
Lucky
Number.

"She was angry at hinm for not
loving her,
And he was angry at her for loving
him."

Damn.
Damnation.
Damn it All.
Damn Yankees.

The next day I applied to law school
in
Red Sox Nation.

Maybe I should have written:

"She was angry at hinm for not
loving her,
And he was angry at her for loving
him."

Then again,
Maybe
Not.

Sea Green [C. Greene]