A Letter to the Poetry Community - Ahaan Shrivastava (Alexander W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts, Ninth Grade)

Dear distinguished people 

of the poetry community.

You know what?

I’ve just decided that I

Don’t like writing poems.

Now, please don’t 

Come at me driven

by rage.

I mean peace,

& no offense.

I mean nothing but respect.

Trust me, I won’t be like

Hitler, pissed off that he

didn’t get into art school.

But, anyway, enough about

the man who gave the 

Toothbrush mustache 

A bad name.

For me, trying to write a poem

Is excruciating.

I find myself

Containing the temper

Of a toddler who’s mom

Just told him he has day care.

Yet when I somehow

Manage to complete

Even a stanza of

Anything I’d be writing,

I feel an intoxicating mix

of gratification and relief. 

Something that serves

To remind me that I

Would not make for a very

Good poet.

I mean, not to be

Stereotypical,

But I’m not someone

Who’s silent or

Abstain.

I also don’t tend to 

Draw a whole lot in

My spare time.

I always see my

Work in the worst

Way possible, beating

Myself up for anything

That didn’t rhyme.

Now any poetry person

Might come up to me

And show me sympathy.

Sympathy that is given for

The sole purpose of not

Letting me see myself as

A bum at poetry.

And I can’t lie, for a few seconds

It fools me.

But then something

Inside me awakens and

Reminds me that they’re

Just there to give sympathy.

They would do this with

Anyone else with the poetic

Caliber of someone such as

Myself. It’s not like they

Wanna be friends.

And it certainly

Isn’t like I wanna be friends with

Them either. Don’t get me wrong,

Like I said, I respect people

Of poetry and their craft.

But even if someone offered

Me all of the money

On mother Earth

To try and become

Friends with them,

I’ll be declining that

Offer for as long as the

Dinosaurs have been gone.

Don’t get me wrong,

Like I said, I respect people

Of poetry and their craft.

Poems-

They’re like superstar athletes.

When we watch ‘em play at their best,

We’re in awe.

But really we don’t know about the time 

They put in polishing and revising

Until they’re satisfied, which they

Probably never are.

I respect athletes for the work

They put in,

And if I compare them to

Poets, heck,

I might as well give them some respect.