I heard that it all means nothing, That we are the child of chance, Beyond the cars that go by rushing A crazed old lady does a dance. I was told we should have no hope – Against the hour there’s no defence, A man lights a drug and smokes, The street air fills with strange incense. It was said that planets move by In the harmony of unseen laws. A child who’s sleepless cries Behind an evening obscured door. I was told the world was made to rise And any movement is welcome. A poor soul in a care home sighs Awaiting kin that never come. I heard we will all eventually be forgotten - That were a flesh made to nourish grass, In the street stands a vacant building rotting With crumbled brick and shattered glass. It is believed what is seen by the eye, Has spelled the end of superstition, But the wind that blows the leafage by Seems like a ghostly apparition. It was a given that man should be free, And souls should move in their own course, But the wandering waif I see Gives me cause to stop and pause. As the battered spirit cripples In the rise of knowledge’s wake I have become knowing of the ripples Between the world and world we make. Perceptions can dull like pharmaceutics, Drain of wonder and ardour, And the heaven’s bleakest hermeneutics Were sensed metres from my door.
A favorite analogy of mine for the poem is the eye chart, when you this big E, at the top of the chart when you take an eye test. A poem should start with a big E, you know, something everybody can recognize. The gambit of the poem is not making any demands on you emotionally or intellectually. It's sort of setting something up that's undeniable. Something like "I'm sitting here at the window with this tree. It's snowing." I mean, the reader can't say, bullshit, I don't buy it. And then as the letters get smaller the poem can move into areas of ambiguity and subtlety, or fantasy and hypothesis. The poem should start in Illinois and get to Oz.
This exemplifies that, Justin!
I would like an artistic correspondence. discussing/reading eachothers work, consistently. Subscribe, for I have done the same. I imagine our bonded will power with these exercises will bear much fruit. I'll be in touch.