Poetry to a Poet

To A Frus­trat­ed Poet
by R.J. Ellmann

This is to say
I know
You wish you were in the woods,
Liv­ing the poet life,
Not here at a formi­ca topped table
In a meet­ing about per­ceived inequal­i­ties in the ben­e­fits and
allowances offered to
employ­ees of this college,
And I too wish you were in the woods,
Because it’s no fun hav­ing a frus­trat­ed poet
In the Dept. of Human Resources, believe me.
In the poems of yours that I’ve read, you seem ever intel­li­gent and
decent and patient in a way
Not evi­dent to us in this office,
And so, know­ing how poets can make a feast out of trouble,
Rais­ing flow­ers in a bed of drunk­en­ness, divorce, despair,
I give you this check rep­re­sent­ing two weeks’ wages
And ask you to clean out your desk today
And go home
And write a poem
With a real frog in it
And plums from the refrigerator,
So sweet and so cold.

Cur­rent Mood: 🙂relaxed
Cyn is Rick's wife, Katie's Mom, and Esther & Oliver's Mémé. She's also a professional geek, avid reader, fledgling coder, enthusiastic gamer (TTRPGs), occasional singer, and devoted stitcher.
Posts created 4259

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Related Posts

Begin typing your search term above and press enter to search. Press ESC to cancel.

Back To Top