Poem - MAG Poetry Prize 2010
When Poems Happen
by
Christchurch, New Zealand
Poems
know more than the poet
knows or the reader learns. It's a
séance in library without lights
But
it takes time to work the room
It
takes time to strangle the cat, to
mask
away the pervading noise of
radios
and aeroplanes,
barking
dogs and delivery vans
endlessly
reversing
Then
there are nice poems about
nice
people saying nice things
on
a Tuesday morning, while
on
the Gaza the children dig
tunnels
that
come out in my living room and
that's
not nice
Poems
are snatched from no man's
land
where failures are harmonised
and
memories delude recollection
Stripped
of vanity and guile our hearts
go
out to meet the words now home
at
last in uniform reverberating free
It's
a Country Dance of simplicity
that
recreates in our minds irrefutable
arguments
for happiness and joy
In
the end a poem is an act of love
An
encouraging word from
one
true heart to another.
A
word that says, “Yes”.
A
word that says. “You belong”.
Or
a word that says simply
Look
up and smile
For
the Sun, in the sky
has
just taken, your photograph.
Added: 29.04.2010
06.05.2010
Under-stated, satirical, but with defiant joy: I loved it! Gaza reference is powerful. Beware of lines ending on weak words e.g. "of", "a".
07.05.2010
Much cause for thought here. The children digging tunnels is effective
25.05.2010
Fresh, and well-constructed of its kind.
03.06.2010
so sorry I couldnt put this one through