The Gestation of a Poem
by ARHuelsenbeck

my creator is struggling
bungling
crumbling
trying to put her vision and emotions
into words

my gestation is taking too long
well beyond her self-imposed due date

she’s close to giving up
I could be another poem 
that languishes in a file
the last line reading
"not finished"

that last line in red
to remind her 
that I can’t be shipped out yet
submitted to a classy journal
or a prestigious contest
or included in her next chapbook

she may tackle me again
some other day
or she may abandon me altogether
to languish
stillborn