Mackenzie Norman

No one ever taught me how to write a poem.

Maybe they thought 

that the rhythm of a line

was so obvious 

we need not 

discuss

the way language is 

compacted like

wet sand on a shoreline

until it becomes a castle 

an idea impenetrable 

except by the 

water that built it.

---

No one ever taught me how to write a poem.

Just toss out words

and make them rhyme  

but not too much 

because if you take it too far 

it’ll just sound cheesy

and cheesy poems can’t be deep.

Use big words because 

profound thoughts

can’t be spoken in plain 

language.

Because we aren’t writing 

to express a feeling

we’re writing to impress

one.

---

No one ever taught me how to write a poem.

People roll their eyes

at cliche verses 

about red roses

and blue violets 

and how love is like

Lasik surgery. 

You’ll never see the world

the same way again. 

But they all hope

that someone will cherish them 

enough to 

attempt to explain the impossible

in impossible words. 

---

No one ever taught me how to write a poem.

But I’m glad they never did. 

Because if they had, 

I’d be trying to do what’s already been done before.

I’d be stuck

Staring at line one.

Scratching my head,

thinking about

what comes next

instead of asking the heart

what came first.