Protest poem #2

I don’t like the poetry industry
the way it is run like venture capitalism, elites
cloistered in leaves, white pages

I don’t like the new generation of poets, blanks
churned out by creative writing schools, all technique
no soul, look plums! Freedom in verse! Foolishness!

I denounce regularization, regurgitation, regimentation
No, perfectly, placed, commas, here, true poetry = a sense of risk,
idiocy and mistakes, not a bunch of pedantic cliques

I don’t even know where to put a line
break (the poor quality of this poem is in itself
a protest) and I don’t know any technical terms

I get drunk at poetry readings and giggle through
the latest fêted bunch of sickos, and if I don’t make it as part of the
club
Thank you, no award could mean more

Charlie Baylis
Illustration Nick Victor