WHAT THIS POEM WILL DO
by Anne Haines
This poem cannot make the clouds
move more quickly or slowly in the sky,
cannot change the weather. This poem
cannot return you to a happy childhood,
erase a painful one. This poem will
not clear your skin, condition your hair,
wash your dishes, mend your jeans.
It won’t find you a lover, not even
if you recite it three times backwards.
It won’t even find me a lover
and I wrote the thing. This poem won’t
stop time, email your advisor for that extension,
pay the plumber or the piper. This
poem does not pay its taxes. It is not
a good citizen. It fails to vote
or show up for jury duty.
This poem will overturn your scrabble game,
take a bite from every food and leave
the rest. This poem is not housebroken.
All night you hear it whining,
missing its mother, chewing your best shoes
and begging to be let out.
Hello, friends. I enjoyed this poem so much I thought it might be fun this week to start off
with the words "This poem...." and see where it takes us. I have done it many times
over the years, and it can be surprising to see where it goes from where it starts out.
with the words "This poem...." and see where it takes us. I have done it many times
over the years, and it can be surprising to see where it goes from where it starts out.
Anne Haines' poem lists things a poem cannot do, and I love how she closes with the poem being like a whining puppy. (All those times I have to get out of bed to write lines down before I forget them!) But we could also write what a poem CAN do. "It can't do this, but it can do that...."
This approach allows us to go as deeply or lightly as we wish, to include whatever is happening or interests us in this moment. Let's start tapping at the keys and see where This Poem takes us!
I am really looking forward to the results!! Here is another example, using the Boomerang Metaphor format created by Hannah Gosselin some years ago at Real Toads. It is penned by Susie Clevenger, whom some of us remember from Poets United and Imaginary Gardens With Real Toads. Susie writes at Black Ink Howl, and kindly gave me permission to use it:
This Poem Is A Blue Pool
This poem is a pool
This poem is vulnerable.
This poem is trust.
This poem is clear water
painted with sky,
rocks, and pine. It is as
deep as yesterday and
as wide as first sight.
This poem is a pool.
This poem is toes on
the edge gripping stones,
flirting with gravity,
wishing for wings.
This poem is vulnerable.
This poem is wisdom
that knows shifting earth
can be a leap into disaster.
It is a voice that brings
the rebel to the security
of solid ground.
This poem is trust.
This poem is a deep blue pool.
This poem is tempting fate.
This poem is wisdom inducing trust.
This pond is on the way to Tofino. So pretty.
Link your poem and do check back for those who link later in the week. I am looking forward to where this approach takes us!
