HUMAN BEING

My problem is
everyone mistakes me
for an onion
not a sapient
old dead poet

Why can't I be mistaken
for for a trumpet swan
dancing in the mist
or a bellydancer
having the best hand
at the poker table?

I know I barked
like a dog
devoured bones
played tether ball
and drapeed my leg
around fire hydrants

But if you check
my bibliography
you will find
I once hit
like Joltin Joe
played the horn
like Loui
danced
like Astaire
sang
like Hank
dripped
like Pollock
wrote like
Kerrouac

A human being
before
growing in the garden
as an onion