Your Poem

I woke up today without the poem
I promised you, did have Raisin Bran
with white sugar and fat milk,
but still no poem.
So, outside I poked in woodpiles
thinking I might have stashed one
there, but found only the straw
of a nest and a bright object or two.
I turned up rocks, found pillbugs
and centipedes, and the track of a worm.
I waved around in the air
and came upon the wind I had forgotten,
but still no poem.
I went to town --
couldn't even buy a poem.
So I shopped windows for faces I knew
and saw one, a fossil
everyone thought dead -- a coelacanth
with stiff fins like legs
and a worried look like he knew
the sea would never be back
and he was going to drown
in a crosswalk if he didn't
find a poem soon

-Gregg Hodges