Monogram Mouths

a thousand brooding poets 

with monogram mouths

meet at a conference to discuss

why sometimes we keep the words in

instead of writing them out. 

once ideas have left

we know they won't come back. 

without the destruction disturbing

between your ears

and blossoming from the earth

in maple trees too tall to climb. 

once we climb them, 

we can't be sad anymore.

a thousand pitying poets

are slapped in the face to find

that most of the time, the sadness

is all they have

to keep their art alive. 

they wake up every morning 

wondering why they're still broken and empty

when their lips are chapped and swollen, 

the monograms wiped away. 

Reviews

[Frontier]

"meet at a conference to discuss
why sometimes we keep the words in
instead of writing them out." - I would like to attend this conference just out of curiosity! :)

[Girl Friday (Sarah W.)]

You've figured it out...all the best writers/poets were either derranged, drunk, drugged or otherwise impaired in some way. They were the outcasts of society, and even when they were in the "in crowd" they still held some semblance of darkness that kept them on the fringes. I feel this way a lot...wonder if allowing myself to be completely happy would change my writing to the point that it no longer made an impact. Alas...I suppose I could be truly happy and write Hallmark cards about puppy dogs and butterflies :)

Well written, my friend, and very intelligent.

[Dana Alsamsam]

thank you! you completely understand. hopefully I find other outlets for my writing when I'm happy. I've even discovered that I really do enjoy writing articles and essays so there may be something for me there.

[Anand Sehgal]

awesome sensitive write....! we need a space to express ourselves.....we will speak up someday ! :)

[icelandicblue]

Pain begets pain and it drives my creativity. I would gladly give the pain away and never write another word if I could but it seems poetry is a catharsis but most definitely not a cure. This is a great thought provoking poem.

[Dana Alsamsam]

I'm afraid of what would happen to me if I were to stop writing, but then again if I was always happy, would I even need to write? thanks for your thoughts and kind review!

[jacob erin-cilberto]

this is so true...without pain, what would we write about...

and once we do write it out, do we worry that we are done? that there will be no more inspiration?

is that why we hold a lot in...just so we won't lose the ability to pen the words?

lots to think about.

really glad to be reading you again, Dana.

jacob

[Dana Alsamsam]

I feel like I often do my best work when I'm depressed and I have this fear that one day I'll be happy and I'll just stop writing...like it was tool to help me progress and not a profession or even hobby. thanks for your kind review!

[jacob erin-cilberto]

i have found at times that when my life is really in balance...i hardly write at all...chaos seems to breed poetry...

[Dana Alsamsam]

*long dramatic sigh*