recycled poetry

hand-me-down poetry*

i wish i was writing something special
but these words have been used before
and there's no originality to it at all
i'm just reusing phrases until they're
worn out, like musty library books
or hand-me-down clothes.
maybe this is what it's supposed to be
recycling words and phrases and sentences
and rhythms and messages
a secret language whispered between
writers, an intimate and delicate exchange.
one writer gives these words to the world,
lets others see them and take them
and change them.
a passing of a torch, a nod of a head,
a sense of trust between poets.
there is vulnerability in placing
your own words in the world
and letting them be seen,
letting them be reused and said aloud
and fixed and tweaked.
these words have probably been written
before in a different form,
but this version is mine and this version
is yours to see and yours to do with
what you like.
i can only imagine what this poem will
turn into in a thousand years,
these words taken and fixed and published
and whispered intimately between
poets until they become something
entirely new.

**this is the poem from the title, cover, and description! if you couldn't tell, i'm very proud of it.