and some say
oh that’s my favourite ever poem
my aunt my uncle my teacher read it
to me when I was twelve
and the more I read it
the more true it is and now
I’m older I can say it off by heart
as if the poem knows my heart
and some say
that poem yuk I really really hate it
the more people said to me
that’s a great poem
the more I hated it
now if I see it
in an anthology
I skip the page quickly
I really really hate it
and I wonder if
the more people read a poem
do they take a bit of its power into themselves
so it no longer has quite that surprise it had
or the more people read that poem
the more they add to it
so it has the power
to surprise more people
or do poems
like a rest from time to time
like that old toy in
your grandparents’ attic
which so surprised you
that Jack-in-a-box
with a face like
Pushkin
or Langston Hughes
Oh Michael, this is funny and true all at the same time. Good for you! I love the last two stanzas. Yes, poetry is like art, and what we take to it helps us enjoy it more! Raynette
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
The thought that struck me - - I wonder if the! faves and yuks readers are reading the same poem? Isn't that the way it goes...one man's trash is another man's treasure? ? What one of us loves, the other hates! ! I think that is why we like to stand up and say I like that or I hate that - so we can compare notes! By the way, I love this!