on the paper
newly minted,
first time printed
causal pausation
assessment momentation
review, the second inclination,
then scrap-heaped,
in much bad company filed
retained, reserved, preserved,
for another go round,
another someday
you look at your hands,
telling them straight,
not good enough,
is not good enough
anymore
do try, so try,
three lines, four stanzas,
elegies and funerals
don't become you,
go into labor,
write labored
and birth free flowingly
knowing,
that all knowing glowing,
of a poem child,
product of
good enough
Bench Yourself
pensive, a quiet time,
yet, burning sensation
in the limbs,
but not in the one
that matters
the eyes function
the fingers flex,
breathing regular,
the words stuck
in an unapproachable place
you bench yourself,
let the backups play,
head in the game,
not today
