I Have Noticed That... (Poetry)

Happy people don’t
write poems much for
they have no need to
it’s only sorrow
that twitches the pen

sends the mind sprawling
in the dust of sad
vocabulary
brushing off a word
or two — holding them

up to the light to
determine if they’re
genuine or fake
pretentious child-like
wails for attention

It is so easy
to allow ourselves
the self-indulgence
of sharing our grief
bogging down any

page that will bear it
Much kinder give the
literary world
a break — channel hurt —
clip the hedge instead