Sunday, March 21, 2010

the well-wrought verse: a poetics

Ut pictura poesis:
The definition, Horace's;
Splash of words across a page
in shades of passion, awe, or rage.

Other times a poem may be
the delicate web of spider's silk
that captures any thought
unlucky to get trapped
in the muse's orb

Reflected in tranquility

A well-wrought verse is
Like a haiku etched in air,
Poet's soul in flight.

A poem should not mean
but be

ink flowing like life's blood
a record of the here that did not
exist a moment ago
roadmap to the mystery
of what it is to love
of what it is to grieve
of what it is to LIVE

resolved, at last,
the question unasked

Poems should be written rarely and reluctantly,
should make lovers weep,
and critics swoon.

But, most of all,
a poem
is
the thing you write,
not
because you want to,
but
because you must.

2 comments:

Doug said...

As poetic a dictionary entry as I have ever seen. The definitive definition.

intelliwench said...

I think I need to print this out and hang it somewhere prominent, to remind myself . . .