Fire

This is a guest post by Joseph Farley. Thanks, Joe.

Fire

The heat of our passion

ignited the pillow case.

The fire spread

to the sheets

and leapt to the curtains,

crawled over rugs;

gasping in the smoke

we hardly noticed

the holocaust around us

as flesh boiled from rib cage

and bone turned to ash.

The Poet In Me

Me with my poet pose :)

The Poet In Me

I’ve been known to be
inspirations flowing
through my veins
energy of the muse.

The word interpreter,

I breathe metaphors
and paint pictures
with lyrical destinations
on blank maps.

The voracious reader,

I’ve heard my voice
astounding thunderclaps
in rudimentary dreamscapes
and rebellious realism.

The doubtful visionary,

I’ve spoken
silent affirmations
in unknown languages
understanding the future.

The anti critic,

I’ve sold not my soul
for a good review
accepting the bad
as the challenge it is.

The poetic archivist,

I’ve known
what was read
to be reiterated
in past anthologies.

The unknown author,

I speak through my words
which speak for themselves
and resound in you
while residing in me.

The validated versifier,

I proclaim
the passionate poetess in me

speechless!

Crystal Visions

This is a guest post by Cheryl Oertli. I want to thank her for her friendship and beautiful poetry.

Crystal Visions

Words come in crystal visions,
Images painted as if canvas creations,
Prisms of an inner mind,
Multicolored majesty.
Rhythmic repetitions, melodic and grand.
Each thought, each image developed,
Lovingly cared for, painstakingly planned.
Words bring forth emotions,
A collage of emotions recorded
In quatrains and lyrical verse;
Touching the heart and mind,
As a soothing balm for the soul.

The Closet Poet

I have come across so many poets who tell me that they have hundreds of poems that they have written yet have never done anything with them. The poems are kept in boxes or folders and left there never to be born much like a bird in a cage never to be set free. The comments I hear are “they are just too personal for me” or “No one would understand them.”

Let’s take a look at each argument. They are just too personal. As writers everything we write has a personal element to it and as poets we express our deepest thoughts and feelings by writing these personal words. I’m not saying you have to dust off those poems and start submitting them for publication but to leave them grow old and unseen to me is a grave mistake. What you have to realize is that because they are so personal and drawn from life experience, by showing them to the world you may just help someone else.

The second argument “No one will understand them." Understanding poetry has nothing to do with trying to figure out what the poet is saying. When reading poetry it is about applying what we are reading to our own lives. How does that particular poem make you feel and what scenarios does it conjure up in your mind? Poems are meant to allow you to think and journey inside yourself. Granted there are poems out there which are created in order to teach and tell stories of history and otherwise but the majority are experiences captured in words and created to be shared and treasured.

I do understand that for the poet, poetry drawn from personal experiences is of a sacred genre all its own. I’ve also been there. However not sharing your gift of words scares me more than opening your heart and allowing people to see inside so that they may be helped in some way by what you have written.

So, dust off the poetry and show it to the world or at least to me.