Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me

     by Susan Stevens


“The volume of poems we receive each year
makes a personal response impossible. Please
feel free to resubmit at any time.” The poet understands. 
He resubmits. Yet, the editor drives a hard bargain: 
It’s much like pass/fail—and this man
who is reading and deciding down
at the Dregs of Society coffee shop
may be, fellow poet, stockpiling images, turns of phrase, irony
to build that next poem in his own cache. Your vicarious pal,
he’s finding his own answers
to your poems.