Mockery And Esteem Poem by Ananta Madhavan

Some poets know they are poetasters,
For all their sublime afflatus,
Some poetasters think they are poets,
Although they remain unknown.

Self-mockery is good for both,
But self-esteem is better,
Because, bereft of it no one can
Write a line or a single letter.

One such, sore at many a failure
To get a new masterpiece in print,
Took to writing verse; ‘it’s easier
Than writing prose’, was an author’s hint.

The would-be poet persisted and found
That it would be a valid counter-strategy
To compose a haiku or a limerick.
Excuse me, friends, that dude was me.

I took to rhymes, an inoffensive trick
To mimic pinnacles of poetry.
A single sample will be ample.
Let not the literati become 'bitterati'.

I took the Indo-English word, ‘time-pass’,
So different from the usual ‘pastime’.
It was not easy, but in my time-pass
I came up with the counter, ‘rhyme-pass’.