Second By Second Poem by Patti Masterman

You cannot read a man's poetry
without trying on his thoughts,
even if only for a moment or two.

You cannot read of loss,
unconfirmed hope, dread or expectation
without a sense of the minutiae of him,
harrowing his lonely way through time.

You cannot write a poem
without placing hidden quantities of yourself
within, revealing the yet undiscovered
by the very words you cho​ose.

If life and prosody sometimes get in the way
of alliteration and pure metaphor,
well you could hardly be blamed;
living through each hour tediously, as you do
second by second by second.