You Can Not Lose A Poem

you lose your breath
 when the fist hits your gut

 you lose your mind
 when you love a woman

 you lose your keys
 when you rush out the door
 late for a job

 but
 the poem

 sticks

 like peanut butter
 and honey
 it is sweet
 syrupy

 it seeps into the blood
 and becomes part of you

 and after twenty years of lost notebooks
 i have finally realized

 the poem
 is
 me