a tale of tails, tenacity, and tedium, as told by me, usually barefoot and bellowing

Wednesday, August 26, 2015

Good Poetry Is

a rock that shines in the shadows
a tree that bends with no wind
a water plant in drought
stardust in your hair
water droplets after a rain

"good" poetry comes
writing itself
leaving me surprised
and breathless
with its truth.

good poetry
spews and bubbles
like a science student volcano
and grows and flows
i transcribe the dictation

and when its finished
i step back and read
filled with joy
and say, Wow!
who wrote that?

17 comments:

Magical Mystical Teacher said...

That's the greatest of feelings: to look at something you've written, and know it's good, and wonder how you managed to do it!

Poems at Daybreak

Sherry Blue Sky said...

I so resonate with this. There are times when I read something that just sort of "came through" and ask the very same thing. Not always, but sometimes and those are cool moments. Loved this!

X said...

Ha. I love it when it just pours out of you and leaves you surprised and breathless. And you kinda know in that moment that you really had little to do with it.

Sanaa Rizvi said...

stardust in your hair
water droplets after a rain

These are my favorite lines :D what a beautiful poem this is :D

Lots of love,
Sanaa

Anonymous said...


Gail this is so sweet. I love that first stanza!

Susan said...

Hahaha! I love that first verse. And the flow! And even the gems that take place from hard labor. But those moments when the poem is larger than the writer, when we surprise ourselves-- those are best of all.

Lowcarb team member said...

Good poetry is enjoyable ... and I enjoyed reading this one!

All the best Jan

21 Wits said...

Perfect description, and I hope after you read this you did stand back and say yes, beautiful and I did it! Bravo.

Country Gal said...

Like a shining star in the cloudy sky ! Great work ! Thanks for sharing , Have a good day !

Old Egg said...

The words are just waiting to go and all it needs is your brain to arrange them in the right order and out it flows. What we see what we hear and what we remember help us a great deal too.

Mary said...

Yes, don't you love it when you write a poem and look at it and think "Wow, who wrote that?" Those are the moments that make poetry writing exhilarating.

Sumana Roy said...

"...grows and flows
i transcribe the dictation"...how true!...

Myrna R. said...

It's so true what you say so beautifully. I so often wonder how the words melded to actually express my deepest feelings and thoughts. Love your poem here.

Gen Giggles said...

Hopefully the name is on the book or blog.

Marcoantonio Arellano (Nene) said...

wonderful interpretation. i step back many a time and become curious how my inspiration is transcribed and how together the tumble into something expressed in words when but a moment before they were just juxtaposed abstract thoughts

gracias. liked this a lot

christopher said...

...good poetry is treasured.

Thanks for the reminder.

Intelliblog said...

I liked the way many of our poets this week have tried to define poetry in their verse. Yours is a wonderful example of that, Gail.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...