6: slippery

poetry is slippery
perhaps the slipperiest
slope on which
to attempt a
political stance

political stances
that change the world
must be sturdy
unambiguous
even ambitious

poetry, poor fool,
cannot help but look
many ways at once

how it focuses
on irrelevant details
the snatch of light
on a cactus arm
the dust that floats
like minor stars

poetry is a houseplant
that blooms perhaps best
in the muddiest, most
complex soil

if you give poetry
one answer
she huffs
she turns
whips out another word
from behind your ear
like a coin, and you
are stunned like a child
who did not know
magic once

yet i keep trying to say
something that isn't about
the trees
in words, something that
hurts and narrows eyes
and sometimes yells

how do i give her
space here?