Weight

To young poets in love…

Make sure all your poems rhyme.
Use all the polishing tools.
Proper meter.
Symbols.
Fair-skinned women -
always tender.

Cause here in the real world .

With -

dying parents,

no book deals,

blisters on hands,

masturbatory hangovers,

morning whiskey breath.

With never enough.

I wait.

Sit, smoke.

Watch a cop drive by.

Wait.

Watch another snake in the leaves.

Wait.

Watch a book return to the earth.

Wait.

Cause here in the real world - we’re all waiting.