Some think
(do they indeed?!)
they know
how wide the margin should be
while someone else writes poetry

The gall, they sniff
keeping lines too small
and calling it, what, poetry?
You must be crazy!

If you keep your lines too long and like a road, winding 
(like this one)
yet others chime in,
Oh I can’t stop yawning
This is too damn boring.

Shape poetry has some in a twist
Micro is not to their finicky taste
Haiku?
You are cuckoo!
Free verse is for the lazy
Make an effort
Get it metered, you fool!

There is more
to add to what’s come before
Rhymes aren’t totally approved
Are you in kindergarten?
Is the disdainful ruse used

So
whether
you
keep
your
margins
real
small
or keep them wide, never-ending and ingeniously long
or perfectly trimmed
(like a french beard)
and shaped
(like the perfect eyebrows)
you lose the spin
their’s is always the win

Poetic hearts
(apparently)
do not have a say
in their heartfelt poetry
Critics want it all
their way

So here’s my answer
laid bare:
Don’t be stingy
give them (the critics) freely
of silence.
Make it exceptionally loud
so they hear it clearly!

©Shail Mohan 2016

Daily Prompt: Silence