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Rip Bulkeley

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Confession

I have never hit one of my poems!
Well not with a closed fist anyway.
I did chase one upstairs and into the bathroom once
and broke the hooks on the back of the door when I burst it open,
but that was after it had made Jane cry
and I just saw red I couldn't help it
and when I did catch up with the thing
I only slapped it a couple of times on the back of the legs
the way it says you can in the writing manual.
I put a bigger bolt on the door after that
and thought about the times I made her cry myself.

With a very new poem the lack of sleep can get to you,
and once or twice I suppose I may have shaken one,
quite gently, just pretending to myself for a moment
in order to let off some of the tension.

Yes all right I have actually scrumpled
several things up and then binned them,
even torn them into little pieces first.
But they weren't poems you see;
so I don't think that ought to count.

I know some people can't stand it
but it never really upset me
when they threw good words on the floor
or dropped their images out of the pram.
Yes I know people put everything into strollers these days,
but I'll bet their poems play up just like mine.

Have I ever hit other people's poems?
Well now, that's different, isn't it?

 

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