Poets Are Strange Creatures Poem by Michael Pruchnicki

Don't you agree?

They sit hunched in front of the monitor
solitary beings punching out their ideas
and feelings on an indifferent screen
egged on by jejune critics who whine
about their lack of emotion

O I suffer! O I die! O I swoon!

Like Shelley they emote the sense
out of the prosaic verse they create
with excess of exclamation points
and overwrought verbiage

These poetic posers lack the strength
and discipline to work hard at pulling
words and ideas into a form
that pleases and delights
the serious reader