Editor Syndrome

Missing comma

Missing period

Missing preposition

That’s all I see

Red marks and corrections

But—

Who am I to critique

Another person’s art?

Technically correct, yes

But what if

They meant it that way—

Folksy

Colloquial

Cultural

Experimental—

Where do I draw the line

Between what is “proper”

And what is real life?

There was once a me who knew

Instinctually which was right

Where is she now?

Is she lost within the Oxford comma

Or frolicking among the run-on sentences?

If I could only reclaim the middle ground

I might again be the artist

And not just the editor