This poem first appeared in the journal Buckle &, and will appear in my new book from Plain View Press entitled The Jeweled Net of Indra in 2007:
Poetry Should
Poetry should matter
like water
something to die for
necessary as air
bread
for the hungry
not
shelved, pristine
above the fray
each of us could speak
something
urgent from the bottom
of our lives
anything
with weight, levity
what is essential
is the speaking
as though lives depended
on it for
we do.