"Write a Poem", They Said.

"No need to rhyme", they said.
"Who'd have the time?" I said.

"But make it scan" they said.
"Give it a skipping gait, a steady pace, a fluid grace."
"If I can", I said.

"Use simile like a smuggler's pack.
Make metaphor a hollow shoe,
To sneak some subtle subtext through."
"Could do", I said.

"But never do as others do.
Always to thine truth be true."

"Mine?" I said.
"Fine," I said.

Andrew C.A. Elliott
August 2024

#poem #smallpoems #poetry