THE POEM ON THE SURFACE OF THE EARTH

HE FOUND THE POEM

JUST LYING THERE ON THE SURFACE OF THE EARTH

The reason he’s so young

is that his fears are so old.

The poet from his village

worked like this—

first he’d write the story

and then he’d put leftovers

into poems, saying,

Use it up. Another way

of looking at it.

He’d get the story

out of the way

to get to the poem.

Stories were the detritus

that made him famous.

He would smile

whenever someone

referred to him

as Chekhov.

Jim Bodeen

16 April 2014