I want to write you poetry (couplets)

I want to write you poetry,
but earnestness is hard for me.

Instead, I ask you if you've eaten,

show you other things I've written,

cheer you on from the back row

and hold your hand after the show.

We laugh at silly inside jokes,

mimic hoots and baas and croaks,

wave cheekily across the tracks

with dance still in our legs and backs.

I laugh because you always bring

too many sweaters. And here's the thing—

I want to show you what I write,

so even if these aren't quite

the lovely words of poets past

I think I'll show you this at last,

for I want to write you poetry

though earnestness is hard for me.