Every Person is a Poem

I heard the other day
that people don't read poetry
to learn.

I couldn't say about people
but it's what I'm doing
when I eat a poem.

I teach my linguist gut bacteria
to mimic philosopher neurons
whose proteins metabolize
at the rate I exercise my eyes.

I write them to learn, primarily, too.
When I meet someone, 
I write a poem.

But they're they author
I'm merely an interpreter
of attenuated impressions
from their spaces and their words.