sneaking up on inspiration

here she comes again,

wandering the cafe

on moondream nights,

entreating the young poets

 

poems should not mean,

but be

 

she smiles and nods

coyly

as if she thought of it herself

 

and grins

at the distinguished gentleman

all alone in the corner,

he scribbles harder

on his napkin

and she floats along

intent on asking

no one in particular

 

but what does the poem do?

 

the school girls giggle a little

at the spectacle

content with their cunning words

 

and the modern, young poet

extemporizes on the quality of language

and the art of knowing

and she stops and leans forward

just as if she was telling

the most important secret

 

don't carry crosses you never met

tell your own story

 

the artist smiles a little,

paints a picture in his mind

of words meeting metal

as she searches still for a muse

that will lead her by the hand

and dance her home

Author's Note

foolishness, laughing at my own foolishness

Reviews

[TamiViolet]

beautiful and heartfelt, Emily although I can't help but wonder where you acquired the words for this one... :-) 'poems should not mean,/ but be'... love it!!! And how true, for poetry is definitely not genre of exact science where 2+2=4. Creativity shows no bounds.... I could envision an experienced poet leading home one who has lost her way... Love it.

[kmartell]

one of the better poems, i like it. reminds me of what Ezra Pound said about poem writing.....write about....the thing itself.

[...]

. a precious poetry lesson narrated infinitely poetically by a precious poet and human being ... there's something wonderful about the way your words tell us about the craft that you are an out and out master at ... your earnestness is charming ... and your humility is humbling ... beautiful work, beautiful emily ... :) ...

[Rossen]

our haven this placeless space of others brew,
the dance of wondering if, what and who
the looker and teller of poetry be
watching it all and setting words free

[Wondering Mind]

Lovely idea....

[.]

Ars Poetica!

[zig]

yeah! this! foolish? i dont know, but theres nothing better than dancing around foolishly, you dont need to wait for a muse, just dance.

[Jūdan FyreHeart]

This created such an exquisite image and little tale here filled with important messages and a coy smile.

[Chloe..Across the Unive..]

Emily, this is poetry and i love it ... no foolishness in front of my eyes..
Such a wonderful poem of a cafe and poetry.

Chloe

[Poeticadia]

My own interpretation is possibly a little off the mark... but i loved reading this and imagined it to be a wonderful allegory of inspiration tiptoeing in between all those writers, touching each one... all of them coming from different places towards the same goal... all dependant on the muse to lead them (as inspiration is not complete without the muse), to make their poetry dance off the page.

In particular it reminds me of a residential writing course, where the atmostphere is intense with poetry and inspiration.

[emmajoy]

What begins as fiction or fact so often alters as imagination wiggles its way into the proceedings, either picking up something from reality or that wonderful thing called imagination! Inspiration is always on the hunt - well, as far as i'm concerned. Surely every writer's middle name is Velcro .. and surely, we all see and feel differently so that snippets can be so completely different they might not have started from the same nucleus.

Assuming yours truly has understood your poem's meaning, you're by no means foolish .. you're an inspiration in yourself, dear lady. This is a very fine piece of writing,