How to Become a Poet
Let a Smile be Your Umbrella
You've got to stay on top of the water
not completely you understand
you won't write unless you bob
feel the depths a little with your toes even go under for
quick glimpses but
for God's sake keep your mouth closed when a big wave comes
keep your smile locked in place or the seagulls will think you've
already stopped
and bob beside you like white corks and eat your eyes
too soon
The Use of Light
We won’t know you are really there
if we can't see you through your smoky fire
or if you drape crystals so fracted with artificial light
that no natural light comes through don't show us your guts or the contents of
your bowels unless you give us
just a glimpse and
they are just
like ours
Giving a Reading
Never wear only black or recite as if you are rolling stones
of large truth about
in your mouth, speak
clearly and slow down,
no, slow down more,
if you ever wear a beret in public we will kill you
You Fool
If you really get the hang of this
you won’t get rich or famous, your friends will say
"how nice" when you say
I'm a poet, don't read your stuff at family gatherings because your aunt will
roll her eyes at your cousin, you are a monk now
only you and other monks know why
you do what you do
you do know don’t you?
Tim Amsden Among other places, Tim Amsden's work has appeared or is forthcoming in
Pudding Magazine, Potpourri, Out of Line, Driftwood, Permafrost, Illia's Honey, Slant, Heartlodge,
New Mexico Magazine, Facets, a Pima Press poetry anthology on aging, and a Pudding House Anthology on
consumption. He has won a variety of awards, including second place in both the 2002 and 2005 Southwest
Writers Conference poetry contests. He worked for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for 25 years,
and now lives in Ramah, New Mexico.
Tim Amsden
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