Poetic Excretion

Poetic Excretion

the first obstacle
find something that confounds you
find something
that spellbinds you

then 
while pinching your nose
ingest it
purely
digest it
excrete it
and examine
every disgusting detail

as an artist
you'll understand
by instinct
without explanation
this thing
is to be examined
devoid
of as many
ready-made
hand-me-down
explanations of it
as you can 
muster

as you smear
and pick through it
force yourself
not to gag
force yourself
to accept the stench
force yourself
to understand
this
is the dirty work
of it

force yourself
to examine the ruffage
as critically
without playing games
as you can

hopefully
the refuse
will make some sense
maybe more 
maybe less
maybe different
than before
but never too much
so there's reason
to ingest more
along with something new
so this time
the examination
might make
a little more sense

force yourself
to accept 
this
as the secret
lonely
vile and mundane
sisyphean curse
an artist
must learn
to love
enough
to never 
care to exchange it
for gold coins
or tender kisses