New Poem: HOW IT BEGAN

 there was this movie I worked on

 I was in terror, had resulting competency issues,

 received various variants of verbal abuse

 and I hung on until the official wrap

 plus the two days of additional shooting 

 told myself I wouldn’t allow myself to

 be helpless in the face of wrath ever again 

 so I engaged in decompression therapy 

 by writing an outline for a roman a clef novel

 about a fake blockbuster titled ALIENS OVER HOLLYWOOD 

 the venting process was entertaining 

 and took place over a few off-work days 

 at the Fairfax Farmers Market 

 where I would write on a legal pad

 and consume a small bag of raisins 

 and discover I was no Hemingway

 so, at the end of one creative session,

 I wrote a short mock-epic poem on jaywalking 

 it wasn’t good, but it made me consider 

 learning the craft of compact stylistic creation

 my early poems were monologues 

 and then I learned to be concise

 using both narrative and metaphor 

 and I kept writing despite 

 algorithms, changing tastes, 

 refusing to be on the “good side”

 of certain disagreeable crème de la crème 

a few poems of mine were anthologized

maybe someone will read them after I’m gone