Michael Salcman
If it’s heart-felt, not mean,
if it sticks to adjectives, not verbs
if it doesn’t disparage how I think
or especially if I think, even if
it’s strange—their mode of address,
their critique or any communication
in between—so long as it’s a message
easily decoded,
not what they thought to say
but what they meant,
not what I was expecting
but what I deserved.