Not Everyone

Not everyone seeks to praise the wounded world.
Some can only write in the alphabet of trauma
Until even beauty is a scar and a temporary comma
In a gush of grievances that would unnerve the Dali Lama.
But there are still things deserving of our praise.
You don’t have to ignore the gaze of suffering
To adore the butterfly fluttering in the garden.
And to realize that you too are in need of a pardon.



In Defense of Light Verse

God forgive those insufferable writers
Who are always writing too much!
Mere length doesn’t mean they are brighter
Than my last line that ends with a punch.