Asking Permission

Dick my boss told me decades ago

        "Easier to ask for forgiveness

              than for permission"

as we spent millions of

     dollars of

someone else's taxes

      without asking

only telling

Today authors jobs

       tough as nails

 'cause every word  or lyric's

        been hashtagged before

and our job to twist them

         to make our own

With 17 million books

       on Amazon today

over 300k published new

       annually

and that's just here

With tweets and captions and bon mots and sayings

       quips and quotes and sound bites galore

who could ever be sure

       it hasn't been said before

I can't

So Google is best bud, my pal, my friend

And when I find

      words from someone else

I want to ask permission

      really

But none tell you how

      not even a tweet

how to obtain

       a Right to Use

so I can make a few bucks

       using mostly mine

and fewness of their's

Writing letters to the Editor

       the Times called and asked

for sources –

       never did in past editions

Publishers and editors

       demand the same

every one

       before they'll print

commercially

When once found

       these original sources

only delay response

       perhaps emails back and forth

"How many words (do you intend to use)?

        and they have hidden magic price lists

they won't share

"Six bucks per copy

       for 3,000 words."

And I don't know

       if Mister King or

only Simon & Shuster

       keeps the dough

And the delay

       rather than money

kills the project

       unless self-published

So that's just what I'll do

       and to hell with you

who create deep bottomless

       hell pits

Sue my LLC if you

         care too

Original prose poem by Rodney Richards 7-4-15

Author's note: Based on true stories