The Collected Writings of Brian J. Mueller

A single poem, met at the right moment, can change a life.

Search and read all 1,834 pieces by Brian J. Mueller — 1,675 poems, 38 prose pieces, and 121 haiku from 12 published volumes. Free to read and share.

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I am Poetry

I believe I write poetry
because I have no time for prose,
no patience for explaining things,
and that I can rely better on metaphor
or our shared experiences...

Several years have now passed.
This is the seventh or eighth notebook
which I’ve filled with words and poems.
There are poems written in a chair,
poems written in a sleeping bag,
poems written while watching the sun rise
through my windshield in Oklahoma.

From this practice I have grown.
My respect for poetry and its practitioners
has also grown.
The scattered pieces of me have been brought back together.
Yet like Humpty Dumpty,
I’ll never be quite the same.

I keep writing because I keep feeling,
because I wish to learn and to change,
because it keeps me sane and present,
because like life -
I am poetry.