Kimberly Pauley specialized in adolescent literature and is especially enamored of teen angst poetry, though she tries very hard not to write anything that would classify as such. She has been a YA book reviewer since 1998 and is currently working on her first novel.

 

Stultifying

 

I like my poetry

simple and honest --

no sonorous suckling sniveling excuses for sympathy,

no words-that-aren't-words,

no rhymes forcibly raped of meaning, nor

fashionably late punctuation, out for a late night driveby--

the kind of poetry that screams out

"na-nee-na-nee-boo-boo, I know more words than you do!"

 

I don't have the patience

to wade through trollops and dollops

of rhythmic self-flattery, or words so

twisted and torn they have lost

all self-respect and meaning --

save for you, the torturer, the poet.

 

I say leave the words alone and

let them work with you, for you.

You will never be able to trap those fleeting thoughts,

those glimpses of immortality --

no words will ever be enough,

their simple lives cannot be flayed

into the shape you see in your mind

 

You can only ask that they

settle long enough

to let someone see,

for just a moment,

into your life.