Poetry

I remember the room, the chair,

The smell in the air

Of the classroom and the book and

The way the sticky thick pages stuck

When we read about poetry for our 11am

Reading lesson in school.

I believe it was 3rd or 4th grade.

I read it and I

Understood and I saw that there was

A lot of rules but I thought to myself

Why rules —

Rhythm rules. it’s the way

The words topple off your tongue.

It’s the beat of the feeling and the meaning behind the rhythm.

I raised my hand and I asked my teacher

“Why don’t we just speak to each other

In poetry” and she said

“That would be too hard, or like music

See you have to write it on purpose”

The last part has never made sense because

It’s bullshit 🙃