he doesn't write poems everyday

Next time you meet a poet don’t ask him
‘What did you write today?’
I’ll tell you
he doesn't write poems everyday
Today he wrote letters to money-lenders
asking if they could lend him some
to pay off an old debt.
Today he sat with a glass of water to avoid
lumps and empty gulps
as he wrote to a friend for the first time
to become his guarantor.
Today he wrote to a newspaper, asking them
if they are going to publish his story anytime soon
No he didn’t tell them it’s about the money and nothing else.
He reordered his bio-data, chucked a few laurels out of
the way to having a regular life with a regular job
He wrote follow-up letters to employers who did not answer
He answered the phone and in his most accommodating way
made it easier for people to tell him the post has been filled
He sat with his books, but warm water droplets smeared the alphabets into shapes
He lay staring at the ceiling for some time and then scoured the room
for one-third of a cigarette
In the evening you would find him, dressed in his best, laughing heartily
at the friend who spilled his wine, and then
you can ask him about the new art movement, or the new underground play
but don’t, and I mean it
don’t take him to a corner and ask ‘What did you write today?’