You curl your legs beneath you and rest
the well-worn notebook in the crook of your knee
Your favorite pen or one just like it
Press it to the paper and make lines, curves, circles
Rhyme every other line, or every two lines
Or do not rhyme at all, simply write
Until the inspiration comes and the words revive
Lift off the waxy page, paint
Rhymes, rhythm, stanzas, couplets
Iambic pentameter, a villanelle
You put down your pen, hold it up to your face
Examine, twice, three times
Rip it up, try again