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Give a listen to my girl NaturallyAlise and check out her page on ReverbNation.  Why? Coz I said so, that's why!

Yelling into an Empty Canyon

This one kinda just stumbled into being after a short gchat with Alise.  The gist of the chat and the poem to follow is that except for my young friend, Susanne, I don't have a lot of contact IRL with other poets.  I put my work on this blog, and occasionally share on Alise's blog, but sometimes, it just feels like I'm yelling into an empty canyon...

I stand here looking at a vast horizon,
flat plains of nothing behind me,
the view uninterrupted and vague.
I turn to greet the vista before me,
green and gold and brown,
blue streams and skies, inviting me.
I want to be there.
Where lyrics ride warm breezes.
Where imagery hangs around me,
like Spanish moss on old trees.
I want to share the phrases that
tumble and flow in those streams.
I look into the valley of this canyon,
and for all that I see,
there is no one around.
I look back on the plains,
and see no one,
not one kindred soul,
who speaks the language of poetry.
I call into the canyon,
Can anybody hear me?
Is there anybody there?
I think I see figures moving
far on the other side,
but they don't hear me.
They don't know I long to share,
the melody of horizons
the harmony of crystal skies,
the phrases and words
that sing pictures of what I see.
They don't know I'm here.
So faintly, I hear them,
singing their own prose,
chanting their poetry,
creating their pictures with words.
Or do I just think I hear,
because I want it to be true?
And so I stand alone,
on the edge of this empty canyon
making worlds out of words,
longing for companions in a poem.
I won't give up the pilgrimage.
I will continue to cry out.
I'll keep yelling into that empty canyon,
until the day dawns,
when a kindred soul yells back.

Music

Tunes playing while we drive
Children laughing at play
Conversation with those close to our hearts
This is the soundtrack to my life


Mingled voices over spades and dominoes
Whispered strategey and loud protest
Spoons and spatulas against pots and pans
Clink of ice in glasses


Breezes blowing wind chimes
The radio in the back yard
Greetings and farewells as people come and go
This is the sweetest symphony of all.


It is the music of family
It is the melody of love

April is National Poetry Month.... but...

How ya doin? April is National Poetry Month.  I love poetry.  Obviously.  But I'm not posting a poem today.
Some friends and fellow poets are planning to celebrate NPM by writing a poem everyday.  I would love to say that I am going to do that, but I don't want to commit to something I know I can't produce.  Because that would be lying, and I don't wanna do that.  I'm not even gonna say I'm gonna post everyday... same reason.


I have never been able to "force" myself to write.  I do try to discipline myself to write.  One reason I love sonnets and haiku.... rules.  Yeah, that's right... some poetry has rules, standards.  Free verse is awesome and organic and powerful in that it finds its form in the flow somehow magically, naturally, seemingly of its own volition.  But when I get blocked, or when life takes me out of "poetic thinking" into reality and stress for too long, the more disciplined forms of poetry help me get going again.  I sometimes make up my own rules for the form and structure of a poem, and adhere to them in order to get my brain to shift from practical to creative.


Don't get me wrong, I feel like all of my better poetry is free verse.  But there is room in this world for all kinds of poetic expression.  I'd love to hear what you think about poetry in all of its wonderful, diverse glory!





P.S. Get the symbolism of the image I chose?  The structure of the mountains in the background transitioning into the free flowing green of the grass in the foreground..... yeah, I thought I was pretty clever, too!