Poetry Like Bitter Melon

Writing poetry is like eating
bitter melon.
Most people chew a little and swallow really quickly
so they don't have to taste very much. But poets, no,
they have to go
and swill it around in their mouths and
mash it with their tongue and
nibble it bit by bit
so they can really, really
relish and savor the
full power of its repulsion. When something cruel
or tragic happens to them, they stick it
under a microscope and magnify it a hundred
times, then
pick it apart. They bind their hands behind their backs and blindfold themselves
Wringing their wrists over clean paper
and letting their cynicism seep through the pages
and into the minds of other weak people.