Eights and Fours

Do you sense a pattern?

Is the structure so defined?

Will you sing it as a song?

Or just say, "Never mind"?

Notes and chords are optional

But smeared ink is a must

Pens used for a purpose

Are tools that never rust

Eights and fours

A signature, a time

The fake book that you read

Is worth a dollar and a dime

Numbers are much easier

Than adding up the words

Subtraction makes a difference

In academic worlds

Join in the equation?

Toss paper in the trash?

Here's a throwaway line:

"Writer's cramp's a rash"

Eights and fours

More comfortable with prose

You and you and you and two

The poetry's a pose

Anyone can claim

To have a published piece

Some lines in a journal

For literary lease

Show it to your mother

Show it to your friend

Say you'll do a reading

And drop out at the end

Eights and fours

The monster is the stage

But constructive critics

Are the beasts who really rage

Find the proper blade

And sharpen up your wit

An unconcern with rhyme

Will stab the next big hit

They want your name and number

So you give them both

Asking if it's real

Is a sign of stunted growth

Eights and fours

Imagine that they're true

To tell things your own way

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