the Public Bus Rule

Kenny’s post about a readership existing solely in the academy made me think about a ridership. I usually resist decrees about what is and isn’t a poem, who is and isn’t a poet etc. But if I had a rule, it might be that every person who claims the title poet must have at least one poem that they could sit down and read to a stranger on a public bus and forge some kind of connection. I’d call it the public bus rule. You could have nine hundred other poems that are elusive, difficult etc., but you'd need at least one poem that engages a regular person on a single listen.