On the Necessity of Poetry

(1)

Walking from spring
to spring,

one tires quickly of all
the intellectual bushbeating,

telling me I’m
not thirsty
when I’m
thirsty.


(2)

Let’s be simple:
A house without a hearth
is a home without a center.

After somebody lets the fire
go out, they always like to tell
you it wasn’t important.


(3)

Have you ever noticed that
bird calls are often answered
by silences of equal duration?

Who is to say which one—
the sound or the silence—
is more important.


(4)

We are born naked; we make
love naked; and we die
naked;

Though not strictly necessary,
doing poetry naked seems to work
just fine, too.


(5)

Once the commons
are fenced in and sold,

on the very same ground
we’ll argue incessantly about—

the necessity of poetry.