Thursday, June 30, 2016

Rosemary Nissen-Wade #30: The Advantages of Poetry


The Advantages of Poetry

Be faithful to your calling.
It will not desert you.
(You will doubt this at times,
when it seems to take leave of absence,
but trust. It WILL come back.) 

Poetry won't keep you warm
on cold nights,
but will help you celebrate
those who do
(every coupling 
a secret threesome)
and console you
after they depart.

It might not make you rich
but you'll think
your poverty's worth it.

You'll always
have someone to talk to.

Poetry is not a partner
who'll dump you after just one dance.
Poetry wants to go home with you.
And if you can't dance,
poetry will teach you.

Poetry will happily 
get wasted with you –
and in the morning
you'll both look worse for wear.
Later, though,
poetry will help you straighten out.

If the power goes off,
you only need a candle
and some kind of notebook
with keyboard or pen.
You can do without TV
or someone else's novel.

It won't feed you
but it can make you forget about meals, 
and any other hunger or thirst 
except the ache for perfection
of word or line.

No matter what goes wrong,
no matter how helpless you feel,
there is always this to do.

And when everything's right
and beautiful
and buoyant,
poetry enables you
to hold the moment a whole lot longer,
then to return for more.
(With poetry, there is no such thing
as being too greedy.)

Poetry doesn't care
about fame and status. 
You do –
and it may or may not happen –
but to poetry it's simply irrelevant.

You want someone to read your poetry,
someone to hear your words.
You're allowed to want that; it's natural.
And there will be those who do.
Cherish them, even if they are not many.

But know, as well,
that if you stand outside and speak your poetry,
be it in a shout or a whisper,
the trees will hear, and the air.
When you read your words over to yourself, silently,
angels and spirits will stand at your shoulder
reading too, noticing the pictures and the music.
And when the words are nowhere but in your mind,
God perceives them, who put them there.


8 comments:

  1. Inspirational thank you Rosemary. I especially smiled with , 'every coupling a threesome'. The whole poem is as ive said inspirational..

    ReplyDelete
  2. Absolument! Well said, and inspirational, Gail. (Myself, I think of poetry as good karma, fame as bad karma.)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Fab. I will think of you when someone asks why poetry? In fact, I have to run a workshop in about six weeks. Would it be okay to read your poem? The subject of the w/s is why write poetry? I think you have provided many answers, so perhaps this could be my sign off.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Fab. I will think of you when someone asks why poetry? In fact, I have to run a workshop in about six weeks. Would it be okay to read your poem? The subject of the w/s is why write poetry? I think you have provided many answers, so perhaps this could be my sign off.

    ReplyDelete
  5. A dialogue with the trees and the air! A very precious lunacy. :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. This is wonderful Rosemary. Thank you

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.