If I Really Want It Poem by RIC BASTASA

after reading
a number of your poems
i begin to
think that i must like
you

or your thoughts
or writing in particular

i do not know you
how can i know you or any person
who appears
only as an idea to me?

the danger is
i may feel small
smaller than a pin
and i may
succumb to imitating you
and then finally
lose myself
in your shadow

and so i am writing this
so i may wake up
and still find myself intact
with pride
and still original in the narrative
of my
woes....

perhaps tomorrow i'll shift

for i can be
happy if i really need it
if i really
want it
i can be
my
happy
self again