Razel Razel (and the Others at The Gates)

A Caveat for Readers

Maybe

You're going to tell me

That these poems

Of mine

Are no poems

At all

'Cause they don't

Rhyme

Or Flow

Or

Have a beat

The way you'd like them to be

Or

The way you think they should be

Or

The way you KNOW they should be

'Cause you

Went to school or

Studied in college or

Read a book on the subject.

But I'll tell you this:

I

Don't

Care.

And I'd say to you this:

Who's the writer here,

Anyway?

These words are

MY words.

This page your holding here?

It's MY page.

And this verse

(Non-verse)

Is my own

Whether it's written here

The way you'd like

Or not.

And I'd explain to you that

Maybe

I don't have the

Time

Or the

Opportunity

Like you

To learn all the meters

(Iambic, spondaic or otherwise).

Maybe I'm too

Busy

Making sure I stay

Head

Above

Water.

Maybe I don't have the

Pockets that

RUN DEEP.

Maybe opportunity

Couldn't get through

The Gates

To knock at my door.

Maybe that's what I'd

Explain.

If I cared,

That is.

So,

Unpolished?

No skill?

Lacking in alliteration and stanza?

Offensive to the art?

Man, whatever.

Say what you will and

I'll say it again:

I.

DON'T.

CARE.

This verse is my own.