Apologies to Emily
To understand Poetry
A favourite must be found
A starting place – a cornerstone
Find familiar ground
A voice you’ve never heard before
One you recognize
Will sing the songs inside your head
And open up your eyes –
Dickinson does that for me
With verses so Pristine
Never does she waste a word
Lines liminal and lean
Though the words may number few
Each one chosen well
Every phrase pulls its weight
And lightly – Heavy tells
I don’t caught in all her thoughts
Of – religiosity
The way in which she weaves her prayers
Casts a spell on me
Someone who can say so much
With such economy
Of words – is someone practicing
Lyric alchemy
But yet there’s more – a nimble wit
Delivered in the lines
A lissom dance – a playful wink
A dark and sunny smile
So in this place – a poet’s grace –
I may yet achieve
Suspension of my disbelief –
I feel, so I believe!
This might not be strictly true
I’m often still confused
Though meanings dance beyond my grasp
She’s given me a clue
Because I could not stop for verse
The poet stopped for me
Spreading wide my narrow hands
To give me poetry –[1]
[1] With apologies to Emily Dickinson.
❦