Grateful Dead

How free is verse
in the current academic climate?

Sprawling or terse
It's all good so long as you don't rhyme it.

MY DECLARATION OF SELF ESTEEM

I AM ME

IN ALL THE WORLD, THERE IS NO ONE ELSE EXACTLY

LIKE ME EVERYTHING THAT COMES OUT OF ME IS

AUTHENTICALLY MINE BECAUSE I ALONE CHOOSE IT-

I OWN EVERYTHING ABOUT ME MY BODY, MY FEELINGS,

MY MOUTH, MY VOICE, ALL MY ACTIONS, WHETHER

THEY BE TO OTHERS OR TO MYSELF- I OWN MY

FANTASIES, MY DREAMS, MY HOPES, MY FEARS- I

OWN ALL MY TRIUMPHS AND SUCCESSES, ALL MY

FAILURES AND MISTAKES BECAUSE I OWN ALL OF

ME, I CAN BECOME INTIMATELY ACQUAINTED WITH ME-

BY DOING SO I CAN LOVE ME AND BE FRIENDLY WITH

ME AND ALL MY PARTS- I KNOW THERE ARE ASPECTS

ABOUT MYSELF THAT PUZZLE ME, AND OTHER

ASPECTS THAT I DO NOT KNOW- BUT AS LONG AS I

AM FRIENDLY AND LOVING TO MYSELF, I CAN COURAGEOUSLY

AND HOPEFULLY LOOK FOR SOLUTIONS TO THE PUZZLES

AND FOR WAYS TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT ME- HOWEVER I

LOOK AND SOUND, WHATEVER I SAY AND DO, AND

WHATEVER I THINK AND FEEL AT A GIVEN MOMENT IN TIME

IS AUTHENTICALLY ME- IF LATER SOME PARTS OF HOW I

LOOKED, SOUNDED, THOUGHT AND FELT TURN OUT TO BE

UNFITTING, I CAN DISCARD THAT WHICH IS UNFITTING, KEEP

THE REST, AND INVENT SOMETHING NEW FOR THAT WHICH I

DISCARDED- I CAN SEE, HEAR, FEEL, THINK, SAY, AND DO I

HAVE THE TOOLS TO SURVIVE, TO BE CLOSE TO OTHERS,

TO BE PRODUCTIVE, AND TO MAKE SENSE AND ORDER OUT OF

THE WORLD OF PEOPLE AND THINGS OUTSIDE OF ME- I OWN ME,

AND THEREFORE I CAN ENGINEER ME- I AM ME AND I AM OKAY

-On a poster like a picture with No Name

(A toast to the Unknown, xo!)

-------------------------------------(-I-AM-ME---@
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

Like a sewer vent? Like a parasite? I like the style but needs a tad of refinement. B plus. (Like I should be giving grades based on the doggerel I write)

Her pathetic child
Untethered ran wild
Leaving her beguiled
So she seldom smiled

Her logical side
Reasoned a child bride
Wed would turn the tide
With her sense of pride

Her ethical bent
Given up for Lent
Left a fulsome scent
Like a sewer vent

And me I just write
Often late at night
Under a dim light
Like a parasite

Sitting in silence in a mountain temple in the quiet night.
Extreme quiet and stillness are original naturalness.
Why then does the Western wind shake the forrest?
A single cry of cold-weather geese fills the sky.