JUDGING A POEM

I
Confess that I am among
the innumerable souls that
dare to venture into the magical
and amazing world of writing
and reading poetry.
I
use to try to write and judge
poems by syntax, grammar,
and all the rules Mrs. Know it All
taught in English 301.
I
use to read the great and
well known poets and conclude
that "I might as well forget trying
to write even a simple poem."
THEN
after years of silence but still
in the corner of my heart there
was the urge to write something,
maybe even a poem. Then one
day in a coffee shop years ago
I jotted down these words:

"I am not going to write poems
worrying about being judged by others;
neither am I going to read poems in
order to JUDGE others." I was free at last.