Apology to Other Poets

To all the poets I know who are trying so diligently to get your voice and words out there,

to the poets who have planned a beautiful reading,

to the poets who have readings that overlap on Fridays and Sundays and Thursdays (which happens often because I live in a place rich with words),

to the poets I don’t know whose book tours bring you to town,

to the poets whose readings happen when I am working at my day job, or teaching a night class,

to the poets whose events fall on my anniversary or the night of the year’s best jazz concert,

forgive me, please. Poetry matters so much to me that sometimes I have to make a decision to sit and write, to re-fill my own well with those precious moments of free time I can find. Sometimes, when I say no to your event, I need desperately instead to sit at my desk and move my thoughts around in my head and my mind, rather than sitting in the audience and holding my breath for those beautiful words you may utter.

I need both – your words and mine --  but always, I need them in balance.

Keep writing, and I will keep showing up at a handful of your events - and meaning to get to the rest of them.