Count-off

One two three

Sometimes I don't know
How
To start a poem

Four five six

But I can feel it
Just below the
Surface
Like a sheet of ice

Seven eight nine

That was poetry
Bursting out of that
Cold but shallow
Water

Ten eleven twelve

So I take a deep
Breathe
And count it off

Thirteen fourteen

And somehow it relieves
The pressure

Fifteen

And breaks the ice

Sixteen

And all the words come
Pouring out

Seventeen eighteen.

6/25/2015
Riley Welch