The Poet Must Be...

The poet must be a man.
He must improvise or plan
And thrust his pen down with conviction,
Draw hard lines and brave distinctions
Without any thought to others,
Their feelings, opinions, even mothers,
(Though it ought to be against the law
For man to make such blah blah blah)
and perhaps my poetry doth suck
Because I am not man enough.

The poet must be woman.  See,
She swims in, knows such gray degrees,
Sees how they're different but the same.
No eye for color'd leave her lame.
A poet with no mind to feelings at all?
Her knowledge of heart and culture's fair tall,
With metaphors and double-meanings
To water down hard stances, leanings,
With mind and heart wound 'round her tight
To set the human soul to light.

The poet must be in-between
Or else, like me, write poetry
Primitive and poor and mean.