by lil

What advice would you give a poet? humanodon ? _refugee_? anyone

Advice to a Poet

for William Carlos Williams

  First see things as they are:
  a red wheelbarrow
  sweet, cold plums
  Then add bias, interpretation:  a red useful wheelbarrow
  Add nuance:  sweeter, colder, plummier plums
  Add snow, bitter winds, hands stuffed in pockets turning blue, 
  Feet tripping over the wheelbarrow, half buried in snow.
  Add Elvis singing, “It’s now or never/come hold me tight.”
  Add one raised eyebrow, add a fast-beating heart.
  Then climb in the wheelbarrow and ride away eating plums.