Keeping It Simple (poetry)

Don’t let anybody tell you how to read this
just get from it whatever sense you can
it’s written in a way you might connect with
my aim’s to touch the ordinary man

I do not court the literary critic
my use of simple words should make that plain
my meaning’s not oblique, obscure or cryptic
I’d rather keep a clear uncluttered vein

and write the way I feel — these lines straightforward
no hidden code or reference to vex
the reader who enjoys the classic story
without the notes on some presumed subtext

So forget those self-opinionated fellows
with papers and degrees up to their ears
there’s no translation needed for my poems
not one of them means more than first appears

And if that is way too obvious for critics
who live to haggle over what’s been said
and then present some highblown exposition
best wait until this author’s safely dead