In the culture of poetry,

we idolize the poet,

not the poem.

 

Rimbaud's rebellion,

Ginsberg's wildness,

Li Po's intoxicated moon.

 

Literary cliques’ murmuring,

gossip of livewires,

pockets and politics,

words lie dormant.

 

Barthes challenges the norm,

text, free of context,

interpretations, fluid, and boundless.

 

Critique ensnared in clichés,

growth, loss, ventures untrodden.

 

A plea echoes through halls,

see the work, the craft,

not the eccentric lives,

focus on the essence.