Don't Call Me Poet

Don't call me poet. I don't want to be
one of those people who clutch at the mic,
shuffle their pages, squinch up their eyes,
posture and whimper dramatically
about feelings and freedom and H.I.V.
and all that's gone wrong with their lives.

Poets wear tattoos and eyebrow rings
and boots and chains and thrift-shop clothes,
slouch on folding chairs in rows,
snap at each other's offerings
while waiting their turn to say the same things,
only better, to scattered applause.

Don't call me poet. I don't want to fight
for noble causes and social crusades.
I don't feel at home among protest brigades,
don't fit in with the left or the right.
I'm a middle-class woman who doesn't have AIDS--
I'm no poet. I just want to write.

Carol A. Taylor

8August 12, 2000