So You Want to Write a Poem by Dean Young

the very thing your mother warned you about

So You Want to Write a Poem

by Dean Young

Compose yourself with a cat in your lap like 
a stopped escalator. The cat’s there
for connection to the living creatures of this planet, the 
simile connection to everything else,
the very thing your mother warned you about
but you’re going to have to do most of the heavy lifting yourself

and in that way it is like falling in love
and other maladies. Reports vary but everyone
is squished by at least 800,000 kilos of earthly burden like the 
squinched face at the bottom of the totem pole
when what you want is to be on top, wings 
coming from your forehead, upright worm 
that you are, quite a view.
A drink never hurt, the more flammable the 
better, a vocabulary of flames often comes 
in handy. Holy sword raised up,
acid reflux, too long in the sun. I 
believe it is time we stand up.
Orthostatic hypotension is the phrase for when you black out,
Hypotaxis for how modifiers wander off,
Ectoplasmic, wall-eyed, veering to the left.

You may have to take yourself apart. Really 
get some dirt in your nose.
Now stork-like lift one foot.
Balance. Let the mind assert its blank. Don’t 
quit. Now lift the other.

Forthcoming in Creature Feature (Copper Canyon Press, 2026)