Some things I’ve been thinking about

I wonder what it would feel like to find a groove

with poetry. To begin, and not to wonder,

How should I begin? Should I

write it out in prose and break the lines later?

Would that give the lie to verse?

I care about poetry, so I

versify as I go.

Would getting it right feel like

finding the perfect pelvic tilt?

Would my words feel weightless? Would they just

hover over the page like an over-

tone held just close enough to hear, but

no closer? Would it sound like

the tuning of the skies? Would

everything align?

Should I be more like Gerhard

Richter, painting? Should I hang

the poem on the wall and stare?

Should I threaten to destroy it, even

if it’s the most perfect thing I’ve ever

made? Especially if it is?

Or would it be more to the point

to write under the risk of destruction,

the risk of having nothing to show

for all my work.

I wonder how a person knows

they are writing a lyric poem.

I worry that I am writing one.

It has all of the signs.

It’s in the first person,

it’s in my voice (I think?),

it’s short enough to read in one sitting,

I could sing it for you.

Look there I go again.

To all appearances I am writing

a lyric poem. How

embarrassing.

Sometimes I write in other people’s voices,

in dialogue, or from impossible perspectives.

You could say I am ambivalent about “I,”

that I do not know it or have a claim to it.

None of this would be a lie. But it’s not

why I write in other people’s voices, in dialogue, or from

impossible perspectives. I do that because I like it.

Would I be rejecting lyric if I wrote this poem

while I was eating dinner? Because I am eating dinner.

I just ate a salad. Now I have to

microwave the second course. I hate cooking

when I’m hungry. I eat when I’m hungry. You see

the problem.

Who are you, anyway, and why are you reading this?

I am having toast with hummus and melted cheese. I said

to A. the other day, I’ve been eating this ever since

I was a kid. Ever since I first tasted hummus

I knew that it would taste even better with melted cheese.

Muenster is best. Unfortunately I ate it all yesterday.

Is Twitter like this? I don’t know, but I imagine

you might.

Can you write a lyric poem if you don’t

know that you are writing one? What about

if you are a woman? Because I am a woman.

Can you write a lyric poem

if you have never taken a creative writing class? Because

I don’t think I have. I might have without

realizing it.

Hummus is better with Muenster, but I suppose any cheese

will do. I better finish this poem

while I am still alone. I have to remember

to disconnect the internet tonight.

Windows Support for XP is ending

and I am sentimental about this computer.