John-Ward Leighton
THAT IS WHY I WRITE
Photo ©Copyright 2011 by John-Ward Leighton CDquestions in the Paris review
about why other writers do the things they do
the blues are on the stream
while outside the sirens scream
is this real or is it a dream
I search and I search
but I can’t find the seam
and truth is a many splendour diamond
and it all depends on where you stand
should be in my little trundle bed
sleeping like I was dead
but I’m sitting here shivering in my gonch
sitting here on the hunch
that although the world is
giving me a beating
at least I’m having lunch
and both good and bad things
seem to be happening in a bunch
at this time of the night
there is not much substance here to munch
and very few numbers to crunch
and its amazing how far I will go to rhyme
it usually doesn’t make much sense
and still I do it all the time
so if this poem gets to pull the trigger
you know for sure I will say
go figure
it’s the middle of the night
and my mind is still racing
wondering what my eyes have seen
or if there is such a thing
and in the confusion the question of
who is winning the democratic fight
the great unwashed in the streets
or the vicious dictator in the Cairo night
and see that it really matters to me
that is why I write
©Copyright January 29, 2011 by John-Ward Leighton