You Say Poetry Is Obsolete Poem by Rod M.Peters

You say Poetry is obsolete,
The idle occupation
Of decadent bourgeoisie,
Hoping to pass for wise and clever
Parroting lines and thoughts
They only half understand at best.
That I should follow your example
And care only to live the good life:
Eat, drink and make merry
And leave books to themselves
Since anyway, they end up being
Merely a tasty morsel
For many an illiterate worm.

I say if you strip your life,
Good or otherwise,
Of all the fluffy padding,
You should get a good poem.
If you don't, then there's nothing there
To begin with: no elusive core
Beneath endless layers of onion skin.
You peel them all off, shed a tear or two,
Laugh a hearty laugh, dance a little dance,
And then one day you die
No wiser than before, to end up
Merely another tasty morsel
For many a clever worm.