'Don't take yourself too seriously.'

I don't mean write funny poems of dirty limericks.

I mean use your verbal craft to add a little irony, some play on words, even some sarcasm.

I promise, if you don't write angst-written, intense, deep and meaningful poetry it will lower people's guard, make it more human. And you will be taken more seriously.

That last three lines of this poem got a bit of the idea.

I am one ridiculously out of touch with pop music. I enjoyed seeing a Florence and machine (whom I never heard of) video just now of Hunger. Nice song. I see the MTV model for video hasn't changed an inch in 50 years. I mean I'm really in the dark...when someone asks me what music I like I say "50's sounds" and they answer, "Oh that ol rock and roll?" I say "No, 1650's" .
Yea, that bad.

So it was hard for me to get into this poem. Objectively, without knowing the reference, things don't connect enough. It did seem to be going somewhere with this, connecting it to date (4th of July) with these very strong lines:

And it is more than one night
But some hundred years
Of longing and loss and fulfillment

A nation built
On battles and dreams

and where are we now? That is the big question of our times, and how we will get out of this age of
anxieties as the very foundations of freedom being challenged. I think it's a serious issue, and one poets," the unacknowledged legislators of the world", should grapple with.

Visualize a masterpiece really good cadence in piece. To unfold with slight sadness i may add. Really a terrific piece laid out for all to see

some have no ear for music
pop or otherwise
not withstanding my deafness
I can feel the pulse in your veins ..
which is flowing like the MISSISSIPPI THE NILE THE AMAZON
may be soft flowing HUDSON ..have you ever imagined

walk along a river and see
how poetry flows like a river
as does life in me