Well I Never Poem by Mark Money

i never wanted to use words
that only sycophants would use
i never wanted to deal in terms
that only poets would know
(a man of plain language and bite-sized words)
i never wanted paper to be a mirror
or a crystal ball
but it leaked out so i didn't have to explain it-
some of the notes started to make sense
in retrospect.

well i never made fun of my grandma
i never kicked the dog
i never crashed that party my senior year.
so should i be ashamed of myself?
for setting out streams of conscious prose
non-marketable but personally satisfying?

i drop my dirt and don't want to search for it
i guess i'm right when i say nothing.

and if someone asks me about it,
i can always say well

i never.

© (1982—Tulsa, OK)