This was a tough one. The July 19th prompt in The Daily Poet: Day-By-Day Prompts For Your Writing Practice, by Kelli Russell Agodon & Martha Silano, is to “write your own list poem using ‘because’ as your refrain word.” (Their main reference was Juan Felipe Herrera’s ‘187 Reasons Mexicanos Can’t Cross The Border’ poem.) The tough part wasn’t getting something down on paper, but the subject I chose to examine. I’m almost hesitant to post it, except that I remember the words of Henry Rollins and others, who note that it is those things that are the most revealing, that give artists the most pause, that they are most worried about putting out into the world, that tend to have the greatest value. So, instead of worrying about what it reveals (or doesn’t reveal) about me, I am trusting that this poem (as such) will have some meaning for a few people.

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