No one ever got rich writing poetry

No one ever got rich writing poetry,
which is why writing poetry is
the best writing we can do.

Never trust writing that's for sale.
It tells you what you want to know,
not what you need to know.

It starts at the wrong place, with you.
It should start in a pool of blood between
the heart and mind of the writer.

Of course, most of it is crap,
which means that poetry, too,
can start at the wrong place

and even when it starts right,
it can trip on its own earnestness
and become just another commodity.

You can't find a real poem until
it's ready to be found.

--Charles Deemer