Poem: For Laura’s Birthday

This year
Dare to write poems:
   Words that wander, struggle, or
          Snigger across the page
   Or
   Words that suddenly splinter a
         thought into a shiver;
     It doesn’t matter:
Words are their own pleasure

And you have earned that pleasure
For daring to write the poem
    That you write by living life.

19 November 1997