Memo Sent by the Poet to the Publisher

Many years ago
One business colleague
Or another of mine
Some elder statesman
Though I've long
Forgotten which one
Impressed upon me
The importance of
Bearing in mind that
Everyone reports
To somebody else

The Deacon to the Minister
Even the Board of Directors
Reports to God I suppose

Except here am I
A self-styled
Self-published
Epic poet
Beholden
To the Word only
A practitioner
Of the freest verse
Imaginable because
As I versify
I report only
Beyond myself to
The broad open skies