often afraid

17.
Unexpectedly, late one night, a friend leans close to ask me what I want people to say about my poems after I’m gone.

I don’t ask what he means by gone. I dismiss the question. I change the subject, but the question stays with me for days until I come up with an answer.

His poems were fearless, though he was often afraid.

—Derek JG Williams, Poetry is a Disease (Greying Ghost, 2022)

might be both

No easy answer: Was that a poem or a dream you just told me?

no answer

A last line has no answer.

answered in advance

The question posed in the poem was clearly a coy set-up for an answer the poet already possessed.

freedom of information act

As readers we may ask on what, and how many, levels are we allowed to engage this poem. We won’t always get an answer, but we get to ask.