I Bring You Myself As I Am Poem by Raj Arumugam

I bring you myself as I am
and want to see you
as you are, original and free -
but you always want to rely on authority;
I invite you
to talk
about what you think
but you must
always lean on the posts
and slouch on pillars
as you play the petty game
of dropping great names
and displaying the coat of arms
of tradition and dead ideas;
I bring you cups of thoughts
with herbs and dew
that I gather myself
that instant
and hope you will offer
what you can make -
but you insist
I drink wine and mixtures
that others have concocted and left flowing
in the muddy rivers of time
that are marked by floating carcasses;
I talk to you with an open heart
but all you do is to repeat
the words of your manipulators



listen, friend
and actually listen:
the first mark of a poet
is the lack of the cliché
in thought and expression;
but marked by cliché
in thought and expression
one is but a puppet
or propagandist
though one may exploit verse