This poem is to appease the critic,
to sail across his arcane waters
as his lyrical neurosis fills my sails
with his narcissistic jabbering.

Given a choice,
I’d rather tether this vessel
to the dock of candor and simplicity
than to continue this voyage of stanzas

for the supposed erudite Captain and scholar.
I stage my mutiny
knowing many obsequious pupils of his teachings
wait ashore, decrying the rebellion.

Perhaps the nadir will come
when I dash into the nearby meadow,
seeing the once beautiful clear and vibrant words,
now trampled because of a Captain’s pride, a scholar’s ego.