Metapoetics

Metacognition
is the act of thinking about thinking
thoughts that spiral like shells whorl,
or multiply like a mirror in a mirror.

The more you think, try to understand
what you are thinking, and however *that*
idea was related to your original thought,
the more you have new thoughts, stepping
your understanding that much farther
from whatever it was you were thinking
about in the first place.

All this jumping-bean thinking
gets chaotic, confusing, so you should
not tell in poems. You should show,
which may be easier to do if you are not
a writer.

Anyway showing is more fun, c'est vrai?

Bite a strawberry. Let its sweet tart run
cold over your lips. Lay on your back
and paint the clouds into stories. Listen
to the whisper of your own words in your ear.
Slide skin on skin.

Would you rather read about it?

I write a poem anyway,
and the words explain just how
my particular poem can press
its fingers on your senses,
scratch or slowly rub.

Feel that?