Passing Poets 2017

for she whose bird no longer sings
and him to Ashbery everything
as Wilbur, and Kendrick, and Dunmore
Pulitzers and laureates gone before

that should I speak their words
remind you what you've heard
pull taut the strings of your heart
for those poets who are no longer

part of the ebb and flow style
turning of phrases to file
for your own future use
review rhyme and meter like a noose

and in their graves freshly dug
we find renewed inspiration