Palimpsest

Uncertainties

These book-bound objects

Taught as examples of what

Verse should never be

Taught to young adults

In English Lit one-o-one

Of what to avoid

I am terrified

All this is mere doggerel

Fit for derision

I live in fear that

My scribblings are insipid

Art without merit

Guilt lives within me

I am subject to passions

I do not control

Guilt devours me

What I write is unworthy

To be called writing

Every line I write

Carries grave consequences

I do not intend

Why do I question

Every motive for my work?

Is it not enough?

This blind obsession

To shape everything I see

Is extreme hubris

Five seven and five

Form of forced economy

Precision of words

Lines wrote late at night

Hold spectres that undermine

Daylight’s confidence

Words and words and words

So many thoughts to convey

Inadequate tools

Pray hard for guidance

Ask forgiveness for the sin

Of writing these words

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