It All Becomes a Metaphor By Richard LeDue

While billionaires create electric apples,

poets sip on cheap rye

(the same brand Al Purdy preferred),

and the lines seem to flow

like a perfect pour cracking ice,

but some always ends up on the floor,

letting slurred words buzz

loud as a black fly, trapped

by a picture window 

on one of those summer days,

when glasses are big enough

to drown the royalty check that never arrived,

only to breathe life into them 

so it all  becomes a metaphor for determination

instead of another defeat.

Richard LeDue (he/him) lives in Norway House, Manitoba, Canada. He has been published both online and in print. He is the author of eight books of poetry. His latest book, “Secondhand Salvation,” was released from Alien Buddha Press in February 2023.