On Poetry

 When deep within its nebulous corsetthe poem dares disturb the peacefor God’s sake, do not make eye contact.At best it’s an axe-grindy tattletale,at worse a begloomed pilgrim wanderingthe road less traveled. Poems are,of course, notoriously short on epidermis.Dylan Thomas used to describe a poemas walking over glass on your eyeballs.Unpigeonholability’s one of the forcesthat makes poetry the raspberry in the face.These vowel movements—combative,dopamine-inducing, stabby—will helpa poet grow up, immediately make him wantto do something else. * “On Poetry” is based on found text from Michael Lista’s and Gwyneth Lewis’ review/discussion of Carmine Starnino’s Lazy Bastardism, published in the April 2013 issue of Poetry.____Paulette Beete’s poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Gargoyle, Crab Orchard Review, Escape into Life, Rhino, and other journals. She has published two chapbooks: Blues for a Pretty Girl (Finishing Line Press) and Voice Lessons (Plan B Press). She blogs occasionally at thehomebeete.com.