Learn to Wonder
How much meaning makes a poem?
Need it be anything at all?
What if I told you about a poet
An old man who knew he was a sage
Just no one else heeded his cardboard signs.
That man of wisdom had the secret to poetry
Though he didn’t know many words
His poems were plain
And so was his expression
Etched on that torn slab that once housed a refrigerator
Honest and true
They weren’t descriptive, no. Nor did they contain
Some special secret to human life
This man didn’t bother with
hidden meanings
or lacy wordplay
It wasn’t necessary
You’re beautiful today.
Look at that cloud!
Every snowflake is different.
The funny thing is
If people stopped to read his poems
They would have learned more than
Anybody ever learned from Elliot or Shakespeare.