The Kind of Poet I Am

I'm not the kind of poet that slams.
Don't get me wrong, I love the style
I just don't quite get the rhythm
But I admire – no, I want – nay, I need
The type of passion I've seen
Associated with those powerful, spoken words.

You see, I'm the kind of poet
Who likes to rhyme
Who can hear a word or a phrase a thousand times
Without thinking, without blinking
Until that unspecified muse consumes my mind.
You want a confession? Here goes:
I get obsessive, and often no one knows.

It's words like “lips” and “lies”
and “smolder” and “sweep”
And “irresponsibly”
That tip-toe meaningless toward my pen
Until I hear them in the right context.
Even now, the word “patiently”
Has been slowly seducing me.
And I want nothing more
To hold it close and take it home.

Come on now, I'm the kind of poet
Who pretends to fall in love so he can write again.
The kind of poet who hears about a girl
With eyes that change color with the weather
Then loses sleep until I run out of ink.
She gets lines like, “She is of lighting and gentle thunder,
Of summer storms and falling rain."
I'm the kind of poet who realizes eyes of blue exist
But I won't notice until the right shade notices back.
At which time I call them “crystal” and write,
“I'll count each time she decides to blink.”

It's like this: I'm not the kind of poet to tell you a story
Who connects consonants and vowels and apostrophes
To construct some kind of artistic prose.
No, I'm the sort that leaves you hanging.
Always writing on the edge of not enough.
It's between the unanswered questions and unrequited details
That one can find my emotions, naked and weeping.
The quicker the rhyme, the quicker the release.
I'm just afraid that slam and the spoken word
Won't satisfy my need for absolution.

It's just that, I can't slam worth a damn,
But that won't stop me from trying.
That's the kind of poet I am.
--------------------------------------
This is my first attempt at the slam/spoken word style poetry that Amanda writes and performs. I realize this is likely crap, so I'm open to tips and pointers. I've always envied Amanda's style and passion, but I've never been able to catch it myself. After watching her and George Watsky perform live at Vidcon (and also Melza on her poetry channel), I want to be a part of this live, spoken word poetry movement. Look for this on my channel soon.