The Difference Between People and Poets

The difference between people and a poets

You see some smutz 

On your shirt or pants

Or on another's cheek

And

Without 

Consideration

Brush it away,

As any decent person would.

A poet

Takes the afore mentioned

Smutz

And looks at it...

Rolling it gingerly between his fingers.

He wonders what it is...

How did it get there?

Is anyone else missing this?

As he examines it

He smells it

And, though it might seem foolish and disgusting,

He tastes it.

It smells like an idea

And tastes like a memory.

And so he frowns and smiles 

As he holds this formless thing about

His mind

And laughs 

And cries

As little pieces of it dry up and fall away

While it subtly picks up oil from his hand,

Dust from the table, and

Other related and tangential 

Pieces of smutz.

And when he has toyed with it sufficiently,

He will take a piece of paper

And rub it off his finger

Leaving a smudge

That is generally, but not exactly, 

Identical to the thing he enjoyed so much.

And he will take this page and set it, 

as though it were something sacred, on a shelf

So that when you should come to call

He will take it down 

And show you this beautiful thing 

He has found.