What You're Not

You're not a poet--do not be ashamed
You're not a poet--very few can sing
Or play an instrument, compose a song
Or symphony, or paint a picture, draw
Realistically or write a novel, play,
Or television show, or act on stage
Or in a film or on the television.
You're not a poet--then again, you're not
A physicist or chemist, biologist
Or--though you think you are--psychologist,
Economist, or sociologist.
You have no expertise in these rare things
If you're a normal human being--yet,
You do not feel ashamed that you have failed
To be these things--but poetry's a form
Of language--and, you say, we do all speak--
And yet--and yet, and yet...we do not speak
In rhythms and in rhymes, select our words
With all their meanings and their sounds displayed
And crafted, framed and focused to be found
In ways that worry weary neurons pushed
Well past the way that language is most used.
So I'm a poet--you are not--enjoy
The work the artist does without resentment--
Enjoy the work the poet does--it's art.