Understanding My Muse

(Another submission to the "Understanding" poetry contest. Don't worry about the first few lines - it's all "artistic license" [ = lies] to set the dark tone that so many poems seem to have these days.)

I’m giving up on poetry

Nobody likes my stuff

My friends all moved away or died

My toilet paper’s rough

And just last week my darling wife

Demanded a divorce

I’m living in a cardboard box

My armpits smell like horse

Alas! I can’t keep writing this

I know myself much better

Who wants to wear a hair shirt when

You’ve got a comfy sweater

And why would I go wallowing

In tarpits of despair

When I could write a goofy poem

And find some joy in there

To understand my poetry

You therefore need to see

It’s not too deep, it’s not too wise

It’s simply fun for me