How to Become a Writer

eight short poems

---

Nomad


I didn't become a writer
because I stayed home.

I became a writer
because I left.

I'm not a writer
of abundance.

I'm a writer
of the bereft.





Third Degree Autobiography 


When I was six, I saw
one Indian man press
another Indian man's face
against a stove burner 
burning orange and yet

some people are still
shocked to discover
that I'm crazier than
a flock of nostrils 
locked in a skunk factory.





101


I'm not a good teacher
or preacher. I don't know
how I write this stuff.
I only know that I don't
blame it on God.





Ode


I want you
to love me
more than
you did
before
you read
this poem.





Influences


The faucet
drips, drips
drips, drips,
then pauses

for a second
then begins
to drip, drip,
drip again.

What does
this mean?
It means
that I find

music in
everything 
that I hear
and see.




The Museum of Native American History


I take off
my shirt
to reveal
my hurt.




Prayer


I hope that I write
my greatest poem

on my deathbed.
I'll be especially

proud if I manage
to say it aloud.




Persuasion 


I'm a better man
in my poems
than I am in real
life. Now

will you try
to convince me
and yourself
otherwise?