Check Stop
by T.L. Murphy
I was detained for driving under the influence of poetry. I admitted I had recited a line or two.
“How many lines?”
“Actually, two poems, but I waited an hour before operating a vehicle.”
“Two poems?”
“Yes sir.”
He said I was showing indicators of literary influence and demanded I take a poetalyser test. He instructed me to utter a poem.
“Utter a poem?”
“Yes. Utter a poem.”
I gave him my best poem about meeting Rimbaud in a whore house.
“It doesn’t rhyme.”
“It doesn’t have to rhyme.”
“You’re no poet,” he said. “Go home and watch some TV.”
About the author
T.L. Murphy is the Poet Laureate of Canmore, Alberta. He has published poetry and short fiction in Freefall, Wax, Light Journal of Poetry and Photography, Grain, The Antigonish Review, The Eckerd Review, Blue Sky Poetry, geist.com, Migratory Words volumes 3, 4 & 5, Poetic Imaginations, Occupy, and Poetry Hall. He is a spoken-word performance artist and author of the chapbook “Up Cape Fear” available at Lulu.com. His collection “100 Words, 100 Stories” is forthcoming. See more of T.L. Murphy’s work at https://tlmurphypoetry.wordpress.com
