Poem of the Month - April 2011

There are times in every poet's life when the poetry does not come. It slips into the background while other parts of the mind get on with more serious, non-poetry work. I don't know how other poets manage but I find it really hard, well impossible really, to gear up my poetry brain while undertaking a real job - you know, a job that involves organisational skills, project management skills, leadership and problem solving blah blah.

I seem to manage all those everyday work tasks really well, which makes me wonder if I am a poet at all. Am I a pretender. I suppose I will find out in due course, but if poets are prone to angst, gnashing of teeth and emotional blubbering like this drivel maybe I do have a touch of the poet in me.

I am reluctant to inflict bad poetry on anyone but I want to document the kind of poetry I write when I am feeling at my lowest creative point. So apologies in advance.

This is Not a Poem

A poem must rhyme or at least have rhythm
It must have a theme and some strong symbolism
There aren't many rules but it must be appealing
If you don't want the listener to turn their head screaming

That this is the worst thing they have ever yet heard
It is like hearing a screech owl not a dove or lovebird
And the poetry judges will scoff and deride
At another sad wannabe taking a ride

On the coat tails of the masters, who recite with pride
Their own pearls of wisdom and  pat each other on the back
Never succumbing to the profane misuse of metre and time
Who uphold the tradition of those long dead
And who invoke, with every syllable, the creed that says
Poets stand next to God in the order of things and the universe.