Poetry for Dummies

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Last night

Walking home

From the Hi-Line

I crossed paths

With a father scolding

His two young kids

For using the word dummy

When talking to him

Never again did he want

To hear them speak that way

At the risk of getting

An especially long time out

So it begins

Learning what

We’re not permitted to say

The abridgement of our  

Basic freedoms seems to

Make perfect sense

But takes a lifetime

Of hard work and forgetting

Before finally

It may be overcome

Because

When it comes to poetry

We are all of us dummies

Every single one

Poets and readers alike

Straining to find the words

Which long ago were

Forbidden us

By the accident of

Our membership

In the human race