Tips for surviving National Poetry Day

make sure that you shut all windows about the house
and that your pets are comfortable and secure
and for god's sake log off all social media
and maybe stare out of the window at a tree
but make sure it's an evergreen
and not one of those deciduous buggers
whose leaves might be turning a particular hue
that triggers nostalgia or aesthetic reverie
stick it out until midnight, when it’s safe
to leave your house while donning a cape and beret
keep walking til you’re caught in the full glare
of the moon or the last streetlight at the edge of town
and wait for whatever you held back to be born
fully formed and ready for a world that despises it