The poet of resounding renown stated
for the record with the air of redundantly
absolute certainty that poetry had to be
written with pen and paper the alterna-
tive going without mention as if it were
too lowly to cross the lips of the poet of
resounding renown — that being, shhhh,
a word processor and apparently not just
for the poet of resounding renown but as
a blanket requirement for all poets desir-
ing to write poetry and even be poets. Is
it like swimmers needing water to be swim-
mers and pilots needing air to be airplane
pilots? Poets need pen and paper to be poets?
My wife just saw me writing this on a really
small pad of paper. Out of loving concern
(Is it because it’s Valentine’s Day which
begs the question: Does she need Valent-
ine’s Day to show loving concern or is it
just a nice nudger?), she asked me if I want-
ed the larger pad that I usually use to write
poetry. She was offering to get it and save
me the trouble because presently I have a
bum knee. I told her I was trying to write
shorter poems and thought the smaller pad
would help. Well, you can see that strategy
didn’t work. Conclusion (not of the poem):
the size of the pad of paper isn’t what’s im-
portant. It is the existence of the essence of
pad-ness of paper that is necessary to being a
poet, much like water for swimmers and air
for flyers. Except, now I have to transfer this
to a computer where I will most certainly make
changes to the writing. Can a poet do that or
will some essence of poet-ness be lost (I just
wrote that on the computer and not on the pad
of paper.) Anyhow, I have my own list of the
basic elements needed to write poetry and even
more importantly, be a poet. There are eight
including the poet of resounding renown’s two
and the usual four that inspired poets, philo-
sophers and alchemists alike:

1. Air — I breathe it.
2. Water — I drink it.
3. Earth — I sit on it, several layers of
stuff removed.
4. Fire — I’m inspired to do it, like
“Fire in the belly.” Hey, metaphors
are good.
5. Pen — I write with it.
6. Paper — I write on it.
7. Computer — I type on it.
8. Spellcheck — Okay, I know; I often hyphenate
incorrectly to keep a line length
(Isn’t that poetic license?). How-
ever, the question remains, can a poet
be a poet without it? Some would say
it’s like water to the swimmer and air
to the pilot. Similes are good, too.