We Poets 

2008 Second Place Winner of Blue Mountain Arts Eleventh Biannual poetry contest

'Cause that's what poets do 

We look beyond what's obvious 

pulled into the spaces 

between the lines 

We look for the corners 

and the shadows 

drawn to trash-treasures 

and debilitating views 

We weave in wonder with waste 

We stand in front of the questions 

and chance a head-on collision 

with the answers 

we 

expose 

incinerate 

crash 

and create 

We're truth wearers 

We scream, cry, whisper, and sing 

the world's thinking 

The words turn us inside out 

throw us off cliffs 

and challenge us some more 

they hold us responsible 

for telling their stories 

for displaying their scars 

for shedding their layers 

for holding them in the night 

and promising daylight 

and they — the words 

deliver on miracles 

The words are mountains inside valleys 

illuminating abysses 

and sometimes shaking 

hands with them 

Our words slay dragons 

of misconceptions 

pull the blinders off perception 

and cut right through the grain 

Yeah 

our words stroll in Paris 

naked and unapologetic 

effective and unaffected 

'cause that's what our words do 

Poets welcome the edges 

and the unkept 

we eat the heels of bread 

and pocket eggshells 

We caress the discarded 

and hold mirrors up to humanity 

and we'd do best to keep 

that mirror on us 

for a gentle continuum 

of self-eval 

Healthiness 

Make sure pride 

doesn't tarnish the craft 

and heads stay small 

We are student 

as well as teacher 

we look on the words 

with amazement also 

We're healed by digest 

our own food 

feeds us too 

At times vulnerable 

other times anonymous 

too often synonymous 

with only happiness 

anger or sadness 

we 

are 

so 

much 

more 

We're a newborn's first breath 

and giggling high-school sweethearts 

We're seducing suns 

and pink beaches 

We are stage fright 

and therapy couch-dwellers 

We're apples and peanut butter sandwiches 

College kids choking on cigarettes 

We're gusts of wind that escaped 

through the cracks of windows 

We're leaky faucets that refuse to get fixed 

and 9 to 5'ers without deodorant 

We are sidewalks and stars 

Solomon and The Three Stooges 

We're Nyquil at dusk 

but wellness at dawn 

We're Tastykakes 

lemons 

and Sourpatches 

We're not always 

coming from honest places 

for sometimes we 

covet each others' light 

and try to wear 

another's skin 

instead of embracing our own 

We've got some growing to do 

We poets pray for 

courage 

strength 

and even acceptance 

Sometimes we're on pause 

sometimes just on empty 

and we don't always 

have a poem for you 

embrace us 

we need hugs too 

We'll keep on emptying 

ourselves out 

refilling 

risking and falling 

slipping and dancing 

soaring 

laughing 

living 

and 

writing 

For that's what we poets do. 

Copyright2005byJaz