A POEM IS WHAT YOU WRITE IN BED

a poem 
is what you write in bed oops 
I already said 
that  I write in blood 
on the bed a flood 
of red from my head 
comes red writing 
it's exciting but if I'm verbose 
I'm dead  drained 
at the vein 
(or am I just being morose?) 
composing in blood 
is tricky  let's face it 
you can't erase 
an error  too sticky 
to rub out with hair 
or carefully smear 
with nightshirts 
besides a severed vein spurts 
sprays the air  messes 
the lines and hurts 
so sleep in the bed 
instead  don't write poems 
after hours  and in the morning 
shower.




originally published in the April 1991 issue of FEH! A JOURNAL OF ODIOUS POETRY (issue #9).  Reprinted here without any permission whatsoever - it's my poem, and the magazine is long out of business.  Sorry, Simeon.