poem........

from the net...

Poem: "To A Frustrated Poet," by R.J. Ellmann, used by permission of the poet.

To A Frustrated PoetThis is to sayI knowYou wish you were in the woods,Living the poet life,Not here at a formica topped tableIn a meeting about perceived inequalities in the benefits and allowances offered toemployees of this college,And I too wish you were in the woods,Because it's no fun having a frustrated poetIn the Dept. of Human Resources, believe me.In the poems of yours that I've read, you seem ever intelligent and decent and patient in a wayNot evident to us in this office,And so, knowing how poets can make a feast out of trouble,Raising flowers in a bed of drunkenness, divorce, despair,I give you this check representing two weeks' wagesAnd ask you to clean out your desk todayAnd go homeAnd write a poemWith a real frog in itAnd plums from the refrigerator,So sweet and so cold.