I am not finding poems today,
do four starts make a whole?
Poems slices just 25¢!
But poetry isn’t that cheap.
Costs more than I make in a day —
some days.
Some days, I make no words
not poem words, anyhow.
Most days, they’re just
word words
that litany of things we say
or write:
Hi. Hello. How are you?
Yes. No. Maybe.
Please and Thank You.
Best, My Best, All Best
(Kind) Regards
Wears a poet out making just word words,
need to find room for poem words
like the one I heard yesterday: Floof!
And something to rhyme, like Aloof.
Do three lines make a haiku? Oooph.
That was easy as pie…
Poem ©2023, Jen Payne. Image: Pies, Pies, Pies, by Wayne Thiebaud. #NaPoWriMo, National Poetry Month. If you like this poem, you can read similar in my books and zines, available from Three Chairs Publishing on my ETSY SHOP. They come autographed, with gratitude and a small gift.
randomactsofwriting.net 
7 replies on “2 – No Poem Today”
This was beautifully written! I loved the distinction between word words and poem word. I definitely relate.
Thanks Katrina. Isn’t it so much better when poem words show up? : )
Any bozo can write a haiku. I do it all the time.
You, my friend, are no bozo.
Writing a poen in seventeen syllables is very diffic (John Cooper Clarke)
I agree!
I know exactly what you mean about poem words and without them, even prose poems become just prose…