Sucker Poem by RIC BASTASA

for a poem
to be itchy
it must be
a flea,

Socrates
proposed gnats
those hurting
biting gnats

when i first read it
in the dialogues
courtesy of Plato
i felt
this cow in me

coward,
cow-pea, cowed
in a
barn
milked like
a woman

i dread that
feeling
but it is
real
that i begin
to moooo

nonetheless
i cannot help
but just be back
into a
man without
use to
anyone
in my own chosen
freedom

there is Socrates
with all his dignity
intact

who did not get to be
old enough
to really
befriend death

i too propose
gnats, and fleas
and
lice

suckers of wisdom
from the
head of this
universe