a poem
​

 
after a reading by my dear friend, Lenny DellaRocca

a poem is an exorcism from the inside out
a death threat, an oracle, a billboard of fresh air,               
news from the front,

a poem is a writ of habeus corpus, a bit of flotsam       
from the wreckage of your soul, a letter home         
returned to sender

a poem says: aw shucks, ma.              
its just a scratch. a poem says:           
apocalypse now, mutha-fucka.

a poem is a ransom note, a recipe, a lost balloon,               
a desperate cry, a warning, a buoy, a mile marker,       
smoke, lots of smoke

a shovel, wings, an aqualung, a space capsule, a time capsule,
a capsule of you'll-never-take-me-alive cyanide,             
another hole in the ground

a poem is a mythical beast, and a slayer of beasts,
a poem is what's left
 

- Michael Mackin O'Mara