why writers should never diet

maybe i need to start writing from the middle
of the poem -- this is less exciting, therefore
i should just stuff it in with all the other words,
wedge it between the brilliance. consider this
the stomach, the plump rearend; the one problem
area every poet has, except the lucky few, those
who actually eat right and exercise, who edit
away pesky adverbs, punctuation bulking up
the text, who always have trim diction and
manageable metaphors. their verse perfect,
with amazing enjambment, no words or
phrases strewn or bandied about, or jumbled
with last night's supper in bile. and while
the rest of us may have love handles filled
with awkward pauses and inappropriate
juxtapositions, at least we aren't starving
ourselves to create art, and we don't
stick fingers down our throats just
to have the perfect body of writing.