on the poem

To me the poem is a constant state of transition. Every poem, every poetic era in my writing is a point of transition. Once I have reached a point or achieved a poetic goal I move on. There have been times where I have felt I have reached a certain quality in writing. Those moments were ones in which the transition has been the greatest.

One of the goals I have had in verse is to be able to trim down so that I can write a poem that says what I want to say in the fewest words. Though the subject has an importance the craft of writing has a high importance.

To write the perfect poem is not the goal. Once a poem is written, although it may suffer a few tweaks here and there I often go on and write another one. You may see the same poem in another one written soon after or later. Not only is the perfect poem not a goal it is a distraction. There is a certain value in the so called imperfections in a poem.

There was a time when a friend told me that I had found my voice in my poetry. At the time my reaction was to pursue radically changing my voice. Now, since that was a time where I was pursuing a new career and my son's were demanding more of my time the writing sat on the back burner. When that career was well established and my son's were a little older and the thoughts of how I could change the were more established I experimented with some different forms (always remembering how I had written before).

At one point as a method to force myself to be a better writer I started a blog and was determined to write a poem for every day. I did that for a year exactly. It did a few things. First I think I improved. Next I moved closer to the goal in writing shorter verse. I started writing a short form verse. Here is one.

I touch) you (touch me
this spark beauty -
in this mask

I can't say that I have arrived. If I do I will probably change again, but I don't' plan on waiting over ten years again.

My goal will always be always be moving on and up.

Here are the first two poems I wrote on the blog.

stands on something
turn to peer
missing this

------

and then he looks
walk a few steps
turn a head aside

do you have it
I am not your other

step away
pocket hand
a healthy stride