CPJournal #3: Himmel Klien

Taking Offense

sometimes i just know when
and so i sit down with a pen
or a typer, or lately, with a keyboard
it isn't brain surgery to tell it like it is

and i never feel the need to bend
or contort myself for show
it's much easier than all of that, see
writing is not my nemesis, but my emesis

          sorry, but it is

and this time it's in response to a
question posed by a friend who
doesn't "get" my aversion to reading
poetry aloud for an audience

so i explain that it isn't my lack of
reading ability, or even my nerves
and it isn't my shame or embarrassment
over any stark naked personal truth

          it is their polite applause

this is what offends me
that they will admire the knots I've tied
or will enjoy how I've ached
or will dig how I've wanted to die

that they will invite me to parties
fuss over me like I'm new draperies
their friends remarking on the way
i am able to inhibit light

          a knack very much applauded

          but very much misunderstood