Workshop Poets Poem by Francis Duggan

Some say that poets are born and poets cannot be made
But workshop poets say anyone can learn the wordsmith trade
And though they are seen by many as those who did not make the grade
At the weekends they run writing workshops for which they get highly paid.

The workshop poets they tell and boast of their literary degree
Of how they studied under the modern masters at the university
They dismiss bush poets and rhymers as belong to another time
And that real poets are not rhymers and that real poems do not rhyme.

The workshop poets fool many but not everyone's a fool
They never tell you Burns did not spend much time in school
His songs and verse still living and he is still read today
And his masterpiece 'For auld lang syne' will never fade away.

Is it self preservation that they do not recall?
That poor John Clare from Helpston perhaps the greatest Nature poet of all
Was one who did not spend much time in school and died in a mental home
And is now recognized as a major poet one of the finest known.

They talk of the great writers but you never hear them quote
A line or two from James Clarence Mangan he was Ireland's greatest poet
But he died of consumption and he was always poor
And why should they wish to know of him when their lot is secure.

Some say that poets are born those who call a spade a spade
But workshops poets do not agree they say poets can be made
By doing a few workshops with them and for their knowledge pay
Mind thine own self to them apply it's always been that way.