Let’s Try This Again

Poems share alleles with Borscht Belt routines,
Old TV sitcoms, and newspaper
Funnies—whatever architecture

Or anecdote gets crammed in each bit,
The clock resets straight back to zero
To start the next, similar business.

Lyrics don’t work long character arcs,
Developments, or transformations.
It’s a different art that starts over

For another pratfall, another
Version of the one you’ve heard before,
Than is a romance that draws you on,

Than epics mounting singular worlds.
Poems lie recycling breaths, beats, days, nights.