poetry is a bullet

2 minute free verse challenge. "What is poetry?"


Poetry is false
it is a delusion of grandeur
a distorted perception of life
confessing love and genius
in a string of perceptual words
creating a fantasy
that the words actually mean something

poetry is for robots
we believe ourselves to be profound beings
editing other people's writing
as if ours has developed an idea
these letters put together
to make a word that makes a fragment
no use for commas period
and I run on and on
believing that my expressions in syntax
and declarations of independent clauses
will rectify something in your beating heart

poetry is not love making
it is a only a page
poetry will never let me kiss you
under a midnight sun
poetry will never change your mind
about what I have become

endless metaphors recycled
into new similes
and I keep repeating myself

poetry is a noun
and love is a verb
and you were the subject
of my silent thoughts
no matter how fluid
or creative I get on a blank page
poetry means nothing

poetry is a suicide note
it is a bullet
that is terrified of blood
it is a knife
too scared to slice a throat
poetry is a dead leaf
waiting to be crushed
by those who have forgotten
how green
it used to be