PYO Poet Fight Copyright © 13th July 2009 c whyles

Don't pick a fight with a poet
A poet can blister your skin
with words so precise
they could sharpen a knife
and pare you within
an inch of your rhyme

Don't pick a fight with a poet
A poet will take words from your mouth
You can fend off their blows
with rhymes, don't try prose,
as they twist them around
in verse bellicose

Don't pick a fight with a poet
A poet can retaliate
with words tight and tricky
if you're claustrophobic he
will suffocate
you in a trice, or a jiffy

Don't pick a fight with a poet
A poet knows how to fight back
in pentametric iambics
and other foul gambits
that might never scan –
not a gentleman's tricks

Don't pick a fight with a poet
A poet won't swallow his words
he'll spit them in formation,
light up your cremation,
your funeral pyre will burn
in hell and damnation

So don't pick a fight with a poet.