How to Write a Poem

Sharpen two pencils.

You should also probably
Take off your shoes
At this point.

Especially if you are outside in a forest
Or sitting at a Parisian cafe
Or in a jail cell, today.

Notice the wind.
If you feel no wind,
You have also been successful.

Now would be a good time to begin whistling.
Perhaps hum a jingle from a commercial
Whose product is long forgotten.

Are there people around you? Good.
Listen to their voices.
Try to imagine what they looked like as children.

Look very closely
At all the movements
They are making
With their hands.

Close your eyes for a moment.

Remember the smell of today.
Roll it around like a marble in the hand
Of the boy in a picture book that belonged to your father.

Put it in the back pocket of your brain
Where it will rest undisturbed
Until you need it.

Then, it will win your brother's
Prized cat eye shooter.

Now, it rests between layers of warm denim,
Familiar, and denting your flesh
As you run home for supper.