Test yourself:

           are you jealous when you hear her work?

The powdered words, spilling forth

            as she reads her own ink, flowing like blood and then

pouring from her own mouth?

 

You are ready.

Take your 2B graphite and forget to erase

scrawl and break the lead

your passion is productive and more real than you might imagine.

 

Become her

 

When I used to watch ballerinas

the sugar plum princess dancing her pas-de-deux

I would become angry and envious

I want to be on that stage- I deserve it! Oh, if only I could

work harder

become her…

 

When you attend a reading, remember: the gasoline is in you too

it just takes one lit match

maybe a mere ember

to ignite the whole thing

and blaze deep into your soul

and spit out real fire

into the mind of those humans

who then become jealous

and then become poets too

just like she did to you.

Become. become her. you are ready.  now .