For The Unhappy Poet Poem by Not Long Left

Refuse the lure of happiness, turn your
back on satisfaction, fuel yourself with

unfelt pain. Deflect any feeling by filtering
it straight onto the unresponsive page.

Store books of yourself in a cuboard
under the stairs, allowing only the rats

and roaches to read. Sell out occasionlly
with a burst of anything that is not blue.

Tell all how the church bells clanged at
the break of dawn, refrain from comparing

yourself to a dreary winters day, then
return yourself to your ever faithful bitch

The black barking dog.