by Carmen Mason
When I think I’ve heard the last bad poem
when I want to give up on poetry
when I’ve squirmed through one more line
clichéd rhyme, hackneyed point of view
when love and free and blue
are duped to carry weight and fresh insight
when the trip the song the dance
are stopped, mute and deadly still
I give up
my lizard muse slides off the rock
no longer caring about thirst or
quick flies halted on its curling tongue
or scurrying into the green unknowingness
now all chore and drag
I give up
and slide along with it
the water taking us fast
all restless resignation
But oh
wait
there!
out of its good left eye
a glint a dot a something
something
there !
I grasp on tight and clenching
to its narrow cobbled back
leap
leap
leaping
its rider once again
into the green unknowingness
thirsting hungry
once again
Carmen Mason: She has been writing poems since she was six, has won poetry prizes throughout the years, has been published in small magazines and enjoys sharing her poetry at open mikes. She writes short stories and memoir, but feels her most intrinsic ‘voice’ is a poetic one.