You must sit quietly still,

in a dull desk,

in a beige, buzzing room,

the poem staring at you.

Your vision blurs,

then your dozing eyes close.

Shaken, you snap back awake,

and hear the muffled lecture.

You get called on:

“Please, analyze line five for me.”

But what is poetry?

Then you reply: It is the student,

sitting at the desk,

unsure how to answer,   

like poets,

explaining the unexplainable.