I didn’t receive my invitation
to the Poet’s festival
although the host town of
this seemingly fabulous, academic frolic
is only twenty minutes drive away
(this weekend!
Didn’t somebody know I was free?)
I thumb enviously
through the festival booklet
(oh yes,
I can PAY to go there with the masses)
creeps in my inadequacies
read poet attendee biographies
“published fourteen books of poems”
“renowned” “sought for readings”
“won numerous awards”
“internationally published”
(does Booksie count for me?)
…it all sounds a bit pompous…yet inviting
Could I mull with famous and “real” poets?
(poets by title, not hobby writers?)
Could I exchange with them
high brow words and thoughts?
be accepted as an equal?
Would it matter I have no university degree
in literature, no knowledge gleaned from
attending countless poet’s festivals,
no grand volumes of poetry “out there”
(for high school students to
tear their hair out over?)
Would my genuine love of poetry
and my passion for writing poems do?
Would my fascination with words
my humble poetic offerings
built of love, compassion, pain,
observation, experience,
be good enough?
Could I too, wear a label “poet”?
or am I just a person who writes poetry
never to receive my invitation
to the poet’s festival?
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