(......12aug3) Google Maps To My Poems Poem by Max Reif

You have to get
from point A
to point B
in my mind

without taking
a wrong turn,

that's not
as easy
as it may sound,

a single word
can throw you off

if you take
a meaning
I don't intend
or slide
off on a slippery
patch of syntax.

I comb over poems
again and again looking
for the dead-end
or the likely wrong turn
or the roadblocks

because I know most of you
won't go on
if you come to
a log or a dead cow
in the road
of my poem,

you'll just
start reading
someone else.

How long do I have
to make
an impression
on you,
30 seconds,
the way those books
at Kinkos say it is
with a job interview?

So I have
to make sure
my syntax
is a throughway
and then

I have to get a grant
to boost the infrastructure
of my poem,
add a few lanes
(subtly,
NOT LIKE THIS!)

so you not only won't
have to puzzle
it out too much,

but it'll keep you
absolutely riveted



i give up