the poem ought to log the reader

like a tree through the mill, quartered,

slabbed, planked and trimmed,

planed smooth, stamped corporately,

stacked squarely,  boards to be carted off

and nailed to houses to fall down

into piles of pieces here and there. 

the poem ought not to log the reader

like a murdered tree but to free the reader

already free, not needy of poetry,

like a bird who's already free

who cannot be freed.