I have some followers who have never posted a poem
Perhaps they're just people who enjoy reading poetry
But maybe they are just nervous about showing their work
Anyway here's how I view it
An artist makes a charcoal or pencil sketch
Once it looks right they start adding color
A photographer frames the subject and once its right
Takes the photograph
So start by writing a short stanza and then play with the words
You just might surprise yourselves

There's more to this,
This thing we call living.
Everyone's all about the take,
What happened to the giving?

We take what we can
And still we want for more.
Receive one or two of something
While wanting three or four

There's gotta be another way,
A way to be grateful.
But when we don't get what we want
Everyone acts so hateful

There's a feeling of being owned,
Before we've done anything
A song that needs to be sung
That we can't even sing

Lyrics to write down
To give our thanks and praise.
But instead we wallow,
Depressed for days and days.

*This might just sound like
A difficult way to live,
But wouldn't be great to take what we take
And give all we have to give.

I went and placed a wanted ad
Inside my local discount rag
Hoping someone somewhere might have
Some new words they could send my way

I've started feeling slightly bummed
Using the same old worn out ones
To me they are no longer fun
Plus I need something new to say

The ad went something like this
Needed...New Words With New Ideas
Dial 955-3636
For where to drop off your resume

The words they started pouring in
From short to fat to long to thin
With no idea where to begin
I'll try my hand at come what may

With the new words I did not mince
I poured over them all with diligence
No matter past or present tense
It took up most of the day

With the new words all now lined up
I'm ready to try some different stuff
So hold on tight this may get rough
Never said it'd be a piece of cake

It'll still take effort and some work
To find the right rhyme and perfect verse
That fit the newly acquired words
To help along the way with what I now have to say

Have you ever read someones poetry
That where you stand your brought to tears
You can feel the heart of suffering
They've endured throughout the years

Where they view themselves in writings
As a soul that's lost and weak
Not knowing to write the way they do
Is a sign of inner strength

Or how many of us they have helped
Seeing our own weakness through their eyes
And the struggles that we all go through
That fill these poets lives

I'm here in rhyme to let them know
Just what their writings do
And how many in our troubled times
They have helped us through