encouraging folks

For Famous Authors Writing Weirdly

Emily Dickinson, thank you –
you always make me feel better –
that it is legitimate, forgivable –
writing these phrases – that never become sentences –
letting long em-dashes chop my conversation.

Thanks, Billy Collins,
for writing about everyday
and becoming famous,
because now I'll never have to hesitate
before putting a toilet into a line that needs one.

And thank you, Victor Hugo, for Les Mis.
You make me feel better for digressing
for pages and chapters on details that interest me
and no one else on the planet –
but I'll always steer clear of sewer plans.