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Feb 2014
For Helen
who wrote it first,
who wrote it better,
and in doing so,
makes me see more clearly
the why

~~~~~~~~~

no poem should ever be untitled
every face needs a name
every poem needs just
one read for completion,
but more than that, it is
a orphan still, deserving of,
due the
entitlement to be titled,
a parenting of sorts

what was the thought that born it
what was the emotion that conceived it
what was the sight that demanded sharing

this is the age of summary and synthesis,
140 and not one more,
so give direction, enable me to make
snap judgements, with so much on my plate,
we must predigest your concepts,
my multi-tasking slowed to levels unacceptable,
so I can adjudge you,
you worker poet,
before or never reading
after all,
why read anything untitled

more than this however,
for the few who chew
each morseled vowel,
ken each constant consonant,
celebrate stanzas that halt the breathing
and then,
god bless the whole child,
flaws and all,
they more than anyone deserve
your consideration in return

for the title is the essence spark
of you
and all the more so
of what you have
Β Β chosen *to share
of your essentials
After I wrote this I stumbled on the far superior, righteously angry version

http://hellopoetry.com/poem/559624/i-refuse-to-read-a-poem-

An aside: growing up you read I was just called "The Brother."
Even today when some calls me by my first name, it is a sudden shocking to my system.
Nat Lipstadt
Written by
Nat Lipstadt  M/nyc
(M/nyc)   
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