Some say that poets are born and poets cannot be made <br />But workshop poets say anyone can learn the wordsmith trade <br />And though they are seen by many as those who did not make the grade <br />At the weekends they run writing workshops for which they get highly paid. <br /> <br />The workshop poets they tell and boast of their literary degree <br />Of how they studied under the modern masters at the university <br />They dismiss bush poets and rhymers as belong to another time <br />And that real poets are not rhymers and that real poems do not rhyme. <br /> <br />The workshop poets fool many but not everyone's a fool <br />They never tell you Burns did not spend much time in school <br />His songs and verse still living and he is still read today <br />And his masterpiece 'For auld lang syne' will never fade away. <br /> <br />Is it self preservation that they do not recall? <br />That poor John Clare from Helpston perhaps the greatest Nature poet of all <br />Was one who did not spend much time in school and died in a mental home <br />And is now recognized as a major poet one of the finest known. <br /> <br />They talk of the great writers but you never hear them quote <br />A line or two from James Clarence Mangan he was Ireland's greatest poet <br />But he died of consumption and he was always poor <br />And why should they wish to know of him when their lot is secure. <br /> <br />Some say that poets are born those who call a spade a spade <br />But workshops poets do not agree they say poets can be made <br />By doing a few workshops with them and for their knowledge pay <br />Mind thine own self to them apply it's always been that way.<br /><br />Francis Duggan<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/workshop-poets/
