in america

no one
must be more
thick skinned
than the writer
unknown and obscure
who spends most of his
or her
time writing
or dreaming about
images for
poems
and lets the hours
that could have been
spent making
a buck another way
slide away
in favor of
the written
art
mother will scream
papa will say it’s
a mountain of playing cards
balanced on each other
so fragile so easy
to fall
useless to the card table
without rewards

others will simply
call this writer
crazy

and keep away
from him
or her

no one
must be more
thick skinned
than the writer
obscure and unknown
at least around here
in america

Poem taken from STANCE No. 3 edited by Steve Richmond, 1982