THAT ONE, is a poet for all poets
AH, then I would suppose
to be an edwin for all edwins
OH, then there is only one of you
you are being one for
AH, I am one of me
but one is too many for all
OH, then how can this one be for all
when that one is truly for truly’s sake
Which one?
It isn’t a which or a what but a be
HMMPF, an ending for all endings
UMMPF, to be a poet for poets
is a mere suppose
BLECHH, you covered suppose in an earlier poem
YUCHH, but no one heard it
ARGH, they say a poem is heard when it is written
ERGH, then I have heard my entire life
as it happens
HOOOPHA, a mere one, an entire suppose,
this has been . . .
WAIT, are you implying an ending?
AHA, a being
OHO, now there is a poem
OOOOH, an ending
AHHHH, where there are so many to choose from
Edwin Torres, “Merely a Poet” from The PoPedology of an Ambient Language, published by Atelos. Copyright © 2007 by Edwin Torres. Reprinted by permission of Edwin Torres.
Source: The PoPedology of an Ambient Language (Atelos, 2007)
A bilingual Nuyorican poet, Edwin Torres was born in the Bronx and is a longtime resident of New York City. He is a highly acclaimed performance poet, and his exuberant live shows combine physical improvisation and theater. He is also the author of the collections Fractured Humorous (1999) and In the Function of External Circumstances (2010); the chapbook Lung Poetry (1994), with photographs by Luigi Cazzaniga; and the . . .
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