Poetry from Thailand

Original poetry written in and about rural Thailand.

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Location: Chong Khae, Nakhonsawan, Thailand

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

How To Write A Poem




First, it should be short.
Given that we have more brain cells
than there are stars in the sky, and
a long poem will get us no closer to even
the nearest star, length does not matter.

Second, it should not be a touchie feeler.
No poet, even the great Kim Kardashian,
ever gave suckle to a poem or tossed one
on-line into her checkout cart, so spare me
the sense that beauty – even real beauty –
is something that can be store bought.

Third, it should evoke emotion in others.
No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader
is bullshit.  Dead poets used poems to get
busy and so should you, brother. Keep your
eye upon the doughnut and not upon the hole.

Fourth, stagger, slobber, slur, and tear-up often.
If it bleeds, it leads, so be tragic in a media way.
Weird and wonky wins the day at poetry jams,
the longer out there, the more the View may notice.

Fifth, how-to-books out sell poems by light years,
so always make a list in your poem, call them steps
if you must, but give them numbers.  Runes are out
digits are in so as Frost said: “Prioritize, prioritize.”

FG December 5, 2012

All rights reserved by the author Forrest Greenwood.

Well, I started out serious, but got lost along the way.  Frost, of course said “Provide, provide,” but “Prioritize, prioritize” seems more the end result of our vaulted scientific methodology.  If anyone can find a thread of logic in any of these stanzas, you let me know.  Still it’s mostly true,