Just Because You See The Word Poetry In Golden Letters Poem by Mary Angela Douglas

just because you see the word 'Poetry'
high in golden letters
sparkling over the transom,

is no indication you should go in.

or should judge where you are
by the neighborhood;
the iron wrought fence;

the exorbitant garden.
oh my friend, like Columbus
who is disliked now

though he begged bread
from country to country
cherishing the unseen route,

go thou also by another way;
like the departing Magi
who stayed alive surviving

what they had come to say
laying their gifts on the ground
before the uncrowned king.

there are many herods here
in the here and now.
say this outloud at the open mic

on a diffident day and
let me know what happens...

having in hand your pencil
or your quill
a favorite jar of invisible ink

your sheet of foolscap near the kitchen sink
lest inspiration strike you there all unprepared;
covet only

a jeweled means to think of
your bit of cheese and wonder
in equal proportion to

a heart brimming over;
ever a mind, clarified by sadness;
prone to sudden gladness.

may you find a reason
not to be bought
in or out of season

though others go the obvious way
feted and carried on the shoulders of
whoever may be king of the mob today

or queen.of the cafe
consider remaining a little to the side.
or, if you can,

obey the fairy tale commands
when they direct: go this,
and not the usual way.

pick the plain princess-
over the one in emeralds
head to toe;

the small brown wren
and not the one of gold
though you feel

you are crashing down from one floor
to the next, failing the last examination,
dreading the one that's next;

falling and falling like Alice did
in a strange summer dream;
while the roses gleam: this is not

what it seems
stripped of all pretexts
to land unexpectedly in the basement of a universe

mary angela douglas 16 january 2016