GREAT POET EMPEROR

GREAT POET EMPEROR, by Meg Moseman

 

The Great Poet Emperor sways on his throne,
borne on filigreed pillars by twenty-foot djinn
across the wide ocean the octopus roams–
across the wild blue sea!

The Great Poet Emperor ceaselessly scribbles
the tower of paper
he conjured from hell
with a bottomless bottle of lavender ink–
may ink flow ever free!

The Great Poet Emperor keeps not a word.
With a wink and a chortle,
each poem he scrawls
he tosses behind to be eaten by salt
and scoffs at every plea.

The Great Poet Emperor’s legions of followers
drown for his verse.
Not a soul in the sea
has once read a word of his–not even he!
Not even he!

______________________________

Meg Moseman lives in the mountains and puts her English degree to work in the children’s section of a bookstore. She writes and illustrates fantasy and poetry in her spare time.