The Gleeman Sniffs His Armpits

I wanted to be an American writer, but in America I found I was Spanish.” ~Javier Cercas

I wanted to be a memoir writer, but in life I found I was a poet.

I wanted to be a playwright, but in a play I found I was a poet.

I wanted to be a speculative writer, but in a portal fantasy I found I was transporting poets.

I wanted to be a science writer, but in experiments I found a statistically insignificant poet.

I wanted to be a Great American Novel writer, but in the belly of Leviathan I found I was a helpless poet, abandoned by God.

I wanted to be a screenwriter, but on TV I found I was a ridiculous parody of a poet.

I wanted to be a song writer, but in the third verse I found I was acting like I wrote the moon in riddles of crap poetry, as if music were my waiting room.

I wanted to be a writer of wisdom literature, but in collections of sagacious sayings I found I was a foolish poet.