SIMPLY EXPRESSIVE Poem by Alexandre O’Neill

Make your verse flawed,
but do it for a reason:
with flaws that aren't mistakes,
in the fight against what's pretty.

Seize for me those perfectly
round rhymes that are
the sweet rolls of fools
and break their necks,

as someone else demanded
that we do to eloquence.
And if there's an Excellency
who screams "This isn't poetry!",

tell him that no, it isn't -
it's a stumbling, it's sandpaper,
the act of sawing, crushed glass,
shredded paper or a stone roll-

ing against a stone . . .
But you can also make use
of neat, regular rhyme,
for the rule is there's no rule

except for your own rule,
with your rhyme and rhythm,
to make it not simply pretty
but simply expressive . . .