I  like avant-garde poetry
but only to a certain extent
the poets care more
of their unique tongues
traditions they deplore-
they smash the past's finest
as though in angry vengeance
new paths in vanity they explore

weird images
outlandish metaphors
sentences
insensitively sliced
they even overlook
grammatical errors

who do they target
only the intellectual few?
is their role
to stage a coup d'etat
to effect
a coup de grace?

is poetry intended
to mystify, obscure
rather than illuminate
enlighten, inspire
or
serve the poets' egos?

I'll appeal
to the common heart
in words simple and plain
avoid self-aggrandised art
in gentle hope
I might soothe
someone's sorrow or pain

give me then
Shelley, Keats, Byron
they make me weep
over and over again.