Brawl

You can't write a real poem on a computer,
Just like you can't draw a proper picture
Without whooping the daylights out of paper.

Look at this kid drawing:

Thortable
Originally uploaded by Stebbi.

See?

Your whole body has to be into the action,
You have to get your feet up against that wall
And push with your whole might to write it
Right

(If you want it right,
that is)

You have to move the arm so
You have to cut the paper with the pen
You have to get the best of it
Wrestling with the words
Pinning them to the table

It has got to be messy, my friend
You've got to bleed ink on your fingers
You've got to get a paper cut
Or two
It's the way it is,
Yes it is

Heart pounding
Head sweating
Biting your lip as the paper crumples

The whole lot

You have to feel the poem under your hands
Until it surrenders
Calls uncle
Then, breathless, laughs with you
At the childlike absurdity of the
Brawl


"Thortable" used by permission. © 2006 by Steffan Kjartansson. Available from http://www.flickr.com/photos/stebbi/95827276/in/set-873302/ 5