Hitching Rides in Box Cars

Hitching Rides in Box Cars


transient words
get misconstrued, then feared
they find no place in a book
or a heart
homeless construct of lines

peeling paint of vowels
losing color
consonants like wooden structures
deteriorating from disuse

Words move on from one reader to another
often misunderstood
and then condemned to wither
with the weather
of withering interest

if someone would take them in
the words might find solace
and congregate into poems
that might stay put

on pages of readily open hearts.


erin-cilberto
12/27/23

Reviews

[andrew mitchell]

To read and to interpret that is the exercise for today, the enjoyment, all the while looking at the structure, the flow, the style to learn, to improve one’s own signature style of writing. In the meantime we are all hoarders of unfinished lines or thoughts they could be useful one day. Just the other day I had 3 A4 books of scribblednotes and poems which I was going to throw away in a clean out thinking I don’t need these anymore but when I read some which I have completely forgotten about I decided to keep them on the principle being they are part of myself, my unfinished self to be completed….

[jacob erin-cilberto]

I think we are all works in progress, andrew...I really do. And I am glad you did not throw them away.
j.

[Desert Knave]

I like this. I have so many notes and "half-poems" that never seem to get on the right track, but I am convinced that throwing them away would be foolish. Anyhow, an enjoyable read.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

Yes, foolish...because they may grow into something very worthwhile given time and then going back to them.
j.

[Chris Shaw]

I have always believed that once a poem is on the printed page it is down to the reader to interpret as they wish. My lines are often interpreted differently from what was on my mind when I penned them. It delights me what readers can find, that I had not considered. Isn’t that the beauty of poetry J, that it is subjective? I’m all for open hearts when it comes to poetry.

Chris

[jacob erin-cilberto]

yes, so subjective...but some poets seem to get miffed if readers don't get exactly what inspired their poems...My joy is getting different interpretations to the same piece.
j.

[Chris Shaw]

Then we think alike:) I love when I get a response that is a fresh angle .

[Stella Armour]

i always state that once i have shared a poem it is then for the reader to translate or take away from it what they wish .
Granted some poems are so filled with metaphor they get mis-translated and i am i know guilty of that with some poems , i do as you know jacob often find it difficult to untangle some meanings.
I suppose its a bit like neighbours gossiping ... stories get mis-construed and changed in context..

[jacob erin-cilberto]

I never feel any of my metaphors are mis-translated...I want them to be what the reader sees them to be. Always.
That is what poetry is to me...poet let's it be read, then it no longer belongs to the poet, but now the reader.
Thank you,
j.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

We agree!..............