Instructions

If you want to write a poem 

just go outside and look around

Maybe you recall the way the lilac

grew until it cleared the fence

or how the ice cream truck

reminds you of how your daughter

always bought a nut covered cone

Perhaps you’ll write about the

student you taught who died too early

or the friend who disappeared one day

Maybe you’ll turn your skin inside out

and write about what no one sees

A poem needs to say what it has to say

It must find a pace and a sound

A poem has a breath and a truth

Tonight I’ll write about my small tomato

plant that grows leaves but no fruit

I’ll start there and let that plant

become a metaphor