Another poem about writing?

Well, yes. I'm no expert on writing, or poetry, for that matter. That doesn't stop me from writing about either ... or both ... however.

The process has always intrigued me, from the time when I began copying letters and numbers (none of which I understood) from grocery store advertisements which were delivered to our rural home.

This particular poem, "Ahead and Behind," originally published in Capper's, deals less with the process, and more with the intrusion which writing makes on the daily routine

It was written during a time when it seemed that I couldn't pause for a minute without some idea presenting itself, insisting that I put it on paper, even if only in a fragmentary form.

The result, of course, was that other things were neglected.

Since then, I seem to have achieved something of a balance ... please, no audit of actual time spent now on respective activities. This is just a look back at that time when I was getting " ... ahead on poetry, way behind on everything else."

And someday, perhaps, I'll really get caught up "on everything else."

Meanwhile, thanks for stopping by.

AHEAD AND BEHIND

For many years
I wouldn't venture
into this strange
realm of poetry,
but then, like
a water-loving dog
finding a pond,
I plunged in,
can't be coaxed
back out, and I'm
paddling around,
getting slowly
ahead on poetry,
way behind on
everything else.
© 2001
(originally published in Capper's)

Click here to listen to "Ahead and Behind"

LETTING THEM CRAWL

These words I write
are the embers
of a fire that has
smoldered far longer
than I had imagined
it would. How much
longer the sparks
will race among
the cooling ashes
of my past, I have
no way of knowing,
but I intend
to give them air,
let them crawl
as long as they will
on this journey
toward becoming
something that has
the sound of poetry.
© 1996
(originally published in ByLine)

Click to hear "Letting Them Crawl"