Manifesto

I want to read poets
I want to read poets that have LIVED
Who have starved and suffered losses
Who have crawled their way out of a snakepit of oppression
Who have fallen down and fallen down
Then rose to smell the roses in a cesspool
Who still remembered their people after receiving awards and applause
Poets who have forgotten the world's lies
Who had to surrender their shoes for a pen to write with
And their shirt for a page to write on
Who have stared at the sun until they have gone blind
Leaving only their inner vision to guide them
As they wondered and wandered around mountainsides
And ghettos to recover their retinas

These are the poets I want to read
Poets without degrees or a driver's license
Poets who have learned to write by etching their pain
Onto a cave wall with a bleeding fingernail
Who have feasted with kings
While laughing at them with beggars
Who have forgotten the names of the Presidents
But have memorized the birthdays of all the world's children

I do not want to read sestinas about nothing
Scripted by the children of monarchs
Don't care to listen to opaque dronings
Recited by men in suits
Who have never left the academy
Have never pulled the plow and hand washed their own clothes
Men whose only blisters come from holding a cocktail
I refuse to surrender my attention to pale men
Whose greatest tragedy has been
That they were never nominated for the Pushcart Prize

If your words are not your corpuscles
Do not waste my time
You are the peddler that you ignore on the avenue
I do not want to read about ancient Buddhist statues
You saw on your vacation in the East
Where you decided to change your name to Krishna
I am not interested in your reflections on
The innate melancholy of the Divi Divi tree
If you have not spent at least one evening
With the curb as your pillow
Do not try to amuse me with your
Masterful use of assonance
I do not want to read words from men
With their own booking agents and websites
Men who seek record and publishing deals
Instead of the truth

I want to read poets who have lived
Who have toiled and sacrificed
Who would rather see free housing for the poor
Than their own name in lights
Poets who have been left with two peas
And shared one with a stranger
Poets who know from experience
That to speak a word is to create a world
Poets who seek community
Not amenities
I want to read poets who can say
"I was wrong" and mean it
Who can laugh at themselves
Who have had a seven day work week
Who strive for transformation over
Ego affirmation
Poets who don't write in their spare time
Because they have no spare time
Poets who see god in a 3rd graders rhyme

I want to read poets
Who know that words are the medium
Not their means to an end
Who use language to include
Rather than exclude
I want to read poets
Poets who have gone without
Who have been deprived
Who have overcome
Who have sacrificed
Who have been overlooked
Who have been courteous to the cockroach
And kind to the barracuda
Who bow humbly to the wind
Who sleep to dream
Who practive AND Preach
Poets who have gambled everything
For one glimpse at the limitless
Who pushed the boundaries of possibility
I want to read poets who have loved
Another and all worlds unconditionally