LET POETRY BE POETRY

 

Attention:

 

Don’t apologize

Don’t cry

Don’t whine

 

Leave it alone

Don’t change or

Edit the world

Be honest

Be authentic

Be real

 

Because

You’re entitled

No matter

Who you are

Or where you

Live

 

To be who you

Were meant to be

To say what needs

To be said to be

Free and to let the

Words breathe

 

Like all words

And poetry should

 

And not to be stifled

By others who

Aren’t brave enough

To say what needs

To be said

Afraid to be alive

Because they all live

 

In the imaginary

Land

 

Of fear

 

Afraid

Of political

Monsters

Who live in

The dark or

Who believe

That they have

The right to control

Your voice

 

Your thoughts

Your writing

Your ideas

 

Your history

Your color

Your beliefs

 

So

Don’t apologize

Don’t cry

Don’t whine

 

Leave the words

As they are

Let the words be

Your own words

And never ever

Back down

 

Against Nazis

Against censorship

Against idiots

Against tyrants

 

Who think that

They have the right

To edit your soul

 

Because on the day

You are afraid

To write a poem

In America

Or anywhere

 

You’ve already

Let all the monsters

 

Win

 

So

 

Let Poetry

Be Poetry

 

Let The Poem Breathe

 

Let The Poem Live

 

~ R.M. Engelhardt

August 2018