Poetry. I hated poetry. Elevated language and misplaced line

breaks

infuriated me. Poems were written by dead white dudes with something to prove and nothing to say.

Then I found William Carlos Williams.

Besides having a cool name, Williams' poems were honest in a way I hadn't seen before.

Anything could be a poem.

The notes my teachers left on the edges of my sloppy work.

The graffiti on my locker.

The stained logo on my running shoes.

I am a poem. I live in a world made of poetry.

That's pretty cool.

Bob Raczka taught me that W o R d s could be poems too.

Even 'poetry' is poetry.

The chickens are as poetic as the wheelbarrow.

I fail to understand Karl Kempton.

I like him anyway.

George Swedeheart

stole my.

George MacDonald taught me that poems didn't have to be too long.