A Canary I Heard
Poetry needs to be intense
even if it doesn’t make sense.
Often emotional distress
can be stronger than happiness.
Emily Dickinson sometimes
told little jokes in laughing rhymes.
She was often jovial, but,
she still had a fire in her gut.
If you have a hot fire inside
and a voice which can’t be denied
pure nonsense is another way
to express what you have to say.
Have to is the governing word
a vulture is another bird.

Walt Abbott–10-22-08