A guy scanned the page

A guy scanned the page

Over my shoulder

He said that I didn’t write poetry

I wrote prose

I didn’t disagree

But asked what he considered poetry to be

If not an arrangement of words

In a particular order

With a rhythm and flow

Designed to be read out loud

As a monologue

Which may or may not rhyme

Or was that his objection?

He advised me to look poetry up

In a dictionary

I didn’t think there was any poetry in there

But maybe they had updated

Their approach to language

Since Collins and Webster

Designated the terms of reference.

He mentioned Shakespeare

Which was a cheap shot

As he was a guy who paved the way

For new words

Arranged in different ways

To say the same thing

Without becoming repetitive

Or boring.

I thought he would hit me

The guy was spitting feathers

Finding it hard to swallow his words

So I helped him with a couple of

Choice phrases

He could use as an apology

For his abusive tone,

The arrogance of his rhetoric.

Language should not be contained

Withheld or restrained

By conservative convention

But allowed to run free

It is the only way it can develop

Its own voice

I guess that in itself

Is a kind of poetry.