Remember When Poetry Was Fun?
remember when poetry was fun?
remember when Jane & John Q. General Public
didn’t think readings were less fun than going to the dentist?
remember when poetry was a radical revolutionary act
& poets were banned & arrested
for speaking their truth?
remember when poets went out to have fun
& drink & smoke & get wasted & get laid
& didn’t expect to get paid?
remember when there were radical lesbians,
engaged environmentalist vegetarians & activists
& transvestites who rocked out with their cocks out?
remember when poets cared & dared to be different?
remember when poets alchemically transformed words
into metaphysical mercury
& changed the world?
remember when Ginsberg said “I HERE NOW DECLARE
THE END OF THE WAR”
& he meant it?
remember when poets loved each other
& didn’t want to just spew & leave?
remember when poetry wasn’t all whining & complaining
& co–dependant crap
about your love affair with your cat?
remember when there were cowboy poets
& pirate poets
& punk rock poets
& performance artists
who smashed watermelons & juggled chainsaws as they read? remember when poetry was a catalyst
for hope & change
& everybody hoped to have a good time
& when it wasn’t fun
we made it fun?
remember when poetry was fun?