We Are Like You We Will Not Write It. Poem by RIC BASTASA

i admit
given the same situation
i would not write
the way you did

the way you poured
everything in there
without leaving
yourself any drop
at all

the way you opened
yourself skin and flesh
and bones
until nothing is left
except the
challenge

i am so sorry
i cannot do it

however, if i had
to do it
it would be somewhere
else
in some other medium

perhaps not these words
perhaps something that everyone
will too know
by saying
we are like you
we will not write it.