fifty poets in a field

You can put fifty poets in a field
but it's still a field

They may build a homestead
from metaphor and stanza
but it's still a homestead

There might be lows of confusion
from the cows in the next field
but it's still an audience

No doubt they'll starve in this field
ineffectual once the hob nobs run out
but it's still tragic

It's almost certain
at the final curtain
they'll move from Auden
to Lizzie Borden
but it's still in verse

you can put fifty poets in a field
but they're still poets.