Julia can write poetry. Not I.

To Julia

I wanted to write a poem
One that I thought you'd like
I wanted to use big words
Like William F. Buckley did when he was alive
Even though he wasn’t a poet
Smart stuff like Wallace Stevens
Heart-felt like Fleur Adcock
Clever like George Bilgere
Poignant like Carol Frost
Funny like Denver Butson
A good poem
Like so many countless poems
By so many brilliant poets
One that we both would like
A poem so good that you’d read it
And call and say you wanna hear a poem
And of course I'd say yes
And then you’d read it to me
And we’d both be impressed
And happy and feel good in some
Otherwise unreachable parts of our brains.
But it turns out it’s not so easy.