To Be An Anthology Poet Poem by Shalom Freedman

To be an anthology poet whose work
Children hate to read in school
And re-discover in later life as meaningful and beautiful-

To be an anthology poet
And have generations know one’s poems
As part of the eternal canon-

To be an anthology poet
One of the few names
That has survived
When thousands of one’s contemporaries’ have not-

To be an anthology poet
To have written a few of the great and the memorable poems-

To be an anthology poet
To be what I am not
And most likely never will be.