Tuesday, April 29, 2025

Sparse Poetica

 

(My tribute to Ars Poetica by Archibald Macleish which made me sit up and notice a poem) 


A poem is a globed fruit 

palpable yet mute 

Can borrow a few words 

How cute! 




Honest yet not straightforward 

need not be attached to any rhyme scheme

Just needed to externalise the inner scream 

of a once ignored teenager 

Just open the floodgates 

A spontaneous overflow of my repressed emotions

An abstract art of mythical proportions

 makes the melancholy of a monotone 

sound rich like a broadway baritone. 


A poem need not be

A masterpiece , a marvel 

An idea so novel 

that there are odes written to it. 

It can simply be 

A moment in time crystallised with words 

A gasp of the gut 

So well put 

that you thought someone put their hand down your throat

and pulled it out 

like a rabbit from 

a hat 

or a hole 


A poem is a sieve 

which separates the chaff from the grain 

A pensieve 

and a penmanship on pain. 


( In response to What's going on? Blog's Poetry is prompt) 





9 comments:

  1. "Sparse Poetica" captures the raw, unfiltered magic of poetry. The metaphors hit deep, especially the idea of a poem as a sieve—pure genius. It's messy, emotional, and beautifully honest. Great work! ✨

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  2. I share my poetry at my blog from time to time and also maintain a sub stack entitled the caregiver poet. I like your work here a lot. I think it's very good. Aloha friend

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  3. "A gasp of the gut" and many other of your lines provide strong and effective analogies to a subject that is very difficult to define.

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  4. Love your opening ditty. Sets the "Still kicking" pace for the rest of your words.
    ..

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  5. Love your opening ditty. Sets the "Still kicking" pace for the rest of your words.
    ..

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  6. I love the repetition of "a poem is" ~~~ and all the lines interspersed of course! Well done.

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  7. I love! Poetry is a sieve, indeed. And, no, it doesn't have to be a masterpiece.

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