Because we all want to write more poems.
poem
It's not easy for someone like me,
An eight year old in grown up's clothing.
Better suited for playing Go Fish,
Than for filing taxes, paying bills.
My mind wanders off at the least excuse
I'm off to the cupboard to search for cookies.
The cat is calling my name
And I'm eager to get back to my comic book.
And there are no adults here
But the jobs have to get done
Or else we starve, or else we lose the house
Or else someone takes us away.
We do what we have to do
But we don't eat our vegetables
And we stay up all night
And watch endless episodes of Gilligan's Island.
We entertain ourselves
With dirty songs and
Knock-knock jokes
Who's there? Boo. Boo who?
Why you crying?
I fell getting down off an elephant.
You moron, you can't get down off an elephant
You get down off a duck.
We wonder if everyone lives this way,
Or if it's just us. If we are the only ones
Answering the door, crying,
Stuck on an elephant,
- Neil McKay's Shared Poems
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Comments
Benjamin Gorman
March 5, 2012
Permalink
misfits
for an old order,
fit for something new
something coming
soon enough?
Neil McKay
March 5, 2012
Permalink
I've learned from doing poems
I've learned from doing poems like this before that not everyone knows that knock knock joke or that particular elephant joke. In other words, not everyone lived my childhood. Does that make the poem less valid? How universal do you have to make it? Is it any less self-aggrandizing to include arcane jokes from your childhood than to include ten dollar words that people don't know? Am I only writing for an audience of my siblings here?
Clayton Medeiros
March 5, 2012
Permalink
When all is said and done,
When all is said and done, most poets write for themselves. It is not a choice, it is simply something that has to be done. The audience is secondary. In your case, in addition to your siblings, you have us.
Jennifer Dixey
March 7, 2012
Permalink
My philosophy ...
For whatever it's worth, is this: whatever is deeply meaningful to us, becomes meaningful to the reader when we express that deep meaning as clearly as we can. As in acting (thinking of Ben's poem about his odd acting job training med students), all that we have to offer is what's inside us. Write your truth and the rest will follow.