I ... entered the poem of life, whose purpose is ... simply to witness the beauties of the world, to discover the many forms that love can take. (Barabara Blackman in 'Glass After Glass')

These poems are works in progress and may be updated without notice. Nevertheless copyright applies to all writings here and all photos (which are either my own or used with permission). Thank you for your comments. I read and appreciate them all, and reply here to specific points that seem to need it — or as I have the leisure. Otherwise I reciprocate by reading and commenting on your blog posts as much as possible.

21 August 2011

Texture


The Poem shivers, not with cold but fear.
Don’t rough me up, says Poem,
I’m not one of your tough ones. 
I don’t want lumps all over my surface, 
cracks in my fine skin, patches 
scraped raw, scars harsh to the touch.

I want, says Poem, some polish,
some delicacy, some finesse.
I need sensitive handling. Then
I shall reward you. You will feel
smoothness, easy passage to my heart;
softness, that can soothe your every pain.


From a Poetics prompt at dVerse

23 comments:

  1. nice...this reminds me a bit of Billy Collins Introduction to poetry...like the personification of the poem in this though...dont rough me up, let me stay smooth...grins..good stuff

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  2. Clever... the poem comes to life.

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  3. ah this is beautiful rosemary...yeah...some of the poems need lots of care esp. when they're really close to our heart...love that you let the poem speak..

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  4. Yes, they do talk to us. You've nailed the prompt in your evocation of texture, and also let your verse quite literally speak for itself. Enjoyed it.

    PS That orchid(?) photo in your sidebar is incredible--like an alien life form.

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  5. Thanks, all. I have read such wonderful stuff in response to this prompt! I'm glad you like my effort.

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  6. Dear hedgewitch, I chose that orchid to go with this poem: Animal (even though the one in the poem is clearly male and this one's clearly not).

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  7. I like the soft and delicate poem of yours. We express ourselves differently though, some soft, while others want it rough and gritty. But I do agree that the muse needs all our attention and delicate handling.

    Happy day ~

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  8. Well "Poem's" gonna have to face the real world one day. Unless she can find a job at Hallmark.

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  9. Rosemary--I love your personification of "Poem" and you brought in how textures interface with emotions such as fear. Thanks for joining us.

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  10. Rosemary- I can picture this piece framed and hanging on the walls of editors, English teachers, etc.

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  11. Dear Heaven, Actually this poem is not speaking for others, and knows that there are some 'tough ones' out there.

    Dear Lodo, She does come across as a she, doesn't she? Even though I tried to be gender-neutral. As for Hallmark — no child of mine! Or so I devoutly hope. I like Laurie's suggestion that she might end up working in a school or for a publisher.

    Dear Laurie, what a lovely fantasy!

    Dear Victoria, thank you for an inspiring prompt. :)

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  12. The Poem gets personified and tended to be alive. If we treat it so it'll be grateful to our touch. Beautiful verse!

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  13. Lovely-- and I love your title. Thanks so much for reading my heavy poem..xxxj

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  14. I enjoyed this, thank you for the smile (esp. 'no child of mine' in the comments).

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  15. It's lovely to know you all enjoyed it. I'm sure Poem is very gratified too. :)

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  16. Lovely. What fun it would be if our poems, which do make such demands upon us, could put those demands into words and could interrogate us! It's a brilliant conceit.

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  17. I love this poem, the way you gave voice to a particular poem. I have had poems "speak" to me sometime too, had sat down to write something deep and dark and the poem 'said' no, not today!

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  18. Giving this poem life.......what a brilliant idea. Lovely!

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  19. I TOTALLY love this, and what a cool idea, to have the poem address the poet. Love it!

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  20. I agree with the others. This poem comes to life. This flower feels like a person. Beautiful write. :)

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  21. Seems like other poets know just what I mean, lol. Thank you all for the kind comments.

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  22. I liked it, never thought about wrestling a poem before ... and LOVE the color of that pink ... have a bedroom that color.

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