don’t you poets have to see
a ripple in the water
unusual leaf movement
or a shadow move across
the face of something
before you start stalking
a new poem?
the days of simple
dancing-in-sunlight topics
knock-at-the-door themes
and naked-in-front-of-you
subjects are long gone
all hunted to extinction
the next ten years I’ll need
trackers for longer missions
seek out unusual places
use stealth and concealed
traps to have a chance
of capturing anything elusive
and genetically rare
although I still believe in luck
and the lottery of flipping over
sofa cushions
to see what might have
infilled back into this dead zone
and living right under my nose