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Poems At Eighty-One

POEMS AT EIGHTY-ONE
By Leonard Kleeman
I started writing poems at the age of eighty-one.
I did it because I enjoyed it and it was lots of fun.
I thought of getting published but I pushed 
that all aside, 
I read so many poems that I knew I 
couldn't abide.

I admire those who write and do it big time 
and most of their poems don't have to rhyme.
Many of those I understand and many I do not.
Some are hard reading and some I really like a lot.  

To be a published poet you have to write a 
certain way, 
be it metaphors or similes or other stuff 
they say.
I read and read so many poems until I really knew
It isn't just the form they have but they must have
 meaning too.

A poem to have meaning is a very important thing.
You have to understand it or it can just be annoying.
It can be done in free verse or any other way
as long as the reader knows what the poet has to say.

I remember as a child reading Mother Goose.
When I got much older I even read Dr. Seuss. 
And, Robert Frost became my favorite to read.
Even finding poems by Emily I would often plead.

So through the years I had a great taste 
of all the poems and some even to waste.
I decided then to write in rhyme
and to be understood all of the time.

I made my poems as simple as could be
with easy meanings that all could see. 
I then set them to rhyme to give them 
some charm
For all to enjoy and never do harm.

So here I am now at age eighty-one
writing some poems just to have fun.
Maybe they're just lyrics writ off the cuff
but I'll enjoy my time that's left writing that stuff.

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