po•et•ry /noun/ /a place to be found?/ __ __ A necessary work For those that are hooked. On this drug that is part of our veins. Not a choice, but a impulse to, as is Ernest, Sit down at a typewriter and bleed. It runs through the caverns of our fears and weaves with the heartstrings of our sorrows. Joy is rarely raised, but often released in phrase, Oceans and deserts of salt. Made into chocolate chip cookies right out of the oven on a rainy summer day. A book of faces, often screaming. Emotion bottles half empty and tired. Emotions in bottles half broken and fitfully sleeping. A tandem with anger A path of destruction leading to open waters. A cage and a cope Sometimes leading to hope. Thoughts on paper burned at the alter of insecurity. To warm the generations that made us And the one that we’ll leave. A legacy.

Definitions from Side Character Syndrome; __ __

A poet is only as good as their definition of poetry. Imagination is the only limit by which they're bound. Inspiration can be found all around.

Poems are always up for interpretation, but the best of poets can inspire a generation. Because good poetry is about conversation, it requires the masses’ participation. It can help make sense of this thing called life even amidst all of the strife.

Through careful observation and masterful creation A moving poem can ignite determination It can be a powerful source of motivation and encourage people to follow their aspirations and maybe even lead to a lifechanging relevation Because poems are only as good as they are meaningful to their readers And that’s why poets are the truest of leaders

Is it simply writing or expression, A way to cope with the depression? Get pain off your chest, onto paper, Embracing the moniker of creator. An alignment with a higher power, Or thoughts revealed in the shower. Sometimes you’re comforting the crier, Then you’re trying to encourage a trier. My greatest gift and curse all in one, Finding meaning when there is none. A quick look at the literal definition Is central to my final proposition:

“Literary work in which the expression of feelings and ideas is given intensity by the use of distinctive style and rhythm.”

Mine would be:

“The strength, resilience, and inner purpose you require in your day to day life when you have been given a mountain to climb.”

Poetry is what you make it, As long as you make it.

Like a droplet on a window of a car. Dripping down glass, dripping down bars.

Down, down, down!

Words, they drown.

Is the deeper they go, the deeper they mean?

Or is less more, like high-class cuisine?

  Fall,

     fall,


        fall!

Digest it all.

Take a dive

into a poet’s

messy heart.

But look

 too     deep,

and the

words

   fall









   apart.

Hold me Not with R&B and candle-lit dinners Tuck my back to your front With my hair a lullaby scratching your face Your arm asleep beneath the weight of my head Pull me close But steal the covers While I knock the pillows to the floor and Eat secret cookies in bed Promise to always Stay up late reading with those store bought glasses And I will snore love sonnets Each and every night

Everything is poetry I see it in the trees, and the stars I see is in my family and friends I see it in the birds and butterflies

Everything is poetry I hear it in music and song I hear it in the wind and waves I hear it in the voices of the people I pass

Everything is poetry I smell it in the breeze and in fire I smell it in fresh baked cookies I smell it in the candles I light each evening

Everything is poetry I speak it whenever I tell someone I love them I speak it in prayer and praise I speak it when I vent my hearts sorrows and fears

Everything is poetry I feel it in my heart and soul I feel it in the tears that trickle down my eyes I feel it with each passing breath

If a poet is only as good as their definition of poetry, then I must be an angel. If poetry is art and art is God, I am the right portrayal. God guides me through the syllabus of life to craft up any fable. I channel it all through the source of all, even when it’s painful.

I take what I usually can’t express and transmute it until I’m able. Pure in my pronouncement, I can forget my own name. Some could call it bacchanal. For this is mine to share and yours to keep, and we can meet in that appraisal.

If God is great and God is good, then that’s true for any label. This skill helps sing the song of my soul and it’ll always be my staple.

The truth is The truth When soul Meets gravity A pendulum Delicately Swinging On undulating Terrain Lips kissing The choppy surface Of deep Waters A tinkling coin Tumbling Down a chasm The truth is Poetry Only if It moves

I am an awfully good poet And I think that the whole world should know it All the poems you need Have been written by me Who said that Shakespeare was a poet

[I wrote the above decades ago I hope that you did love it so This new one in brackets Wasn’t stored in my attic Oh how I do love limericks so.]

(And I thought I should say by the way I’m not as proud as all that if I may It just popped in my mind As a curious find I’m surprised I remember it today.)

{By the way if you think I am awful That my limericks should all be unlawful It’s okay, I don’t mind You need not be kind Your comments to me can be awful.}

<Using the different brackets has been fun I could not stop using them at one I just wanted a note So the first brackets I wrote Now that I have used them all, I am done.>

There are rules to poetry I’m sure you may know some.

But they are complex and structured and I’m not one to understand complexities and I’m certainly not one for structure.

I define myself in ways that break the binary and that’s how I like to write.

It’s not about the structure it’s about what feels right.

To me poetry is not a set of rules, it’s a flow like a river that leads to bliss.

A series of intricate rhymes that would not go amiss.

It doesn’t have to make sense.

It just has to sound nice.

Nice - now that’s a word I was always advised not to use and why can’t I use it when it is so nice; I ask you is it a vice to use the word nice?

See words can be simple and poems can too, though you’re probably thinking this poem has disproved this.

There is a reason to my rambling I assure you.

Just bare with me please I implore you because I must confess this poem is a mess, I have no plan, I’m just writing the first thing that comes to mind.

Using words that are close at hand.

So yes it’s a bit messy, and might not make sense, but I can bet you one thing like cheese is to mice you must agree that this poem flows nice.

Or perhaps it doesn’t and I’ve proved the opposite.

This is an example of something illicit a disgraced poem that you may think is …

It’s an example of why structure is imperative, ugh what am I saying? This is a disaster!

It’s clear that to poetry I am no master.

I may never make a hit, I may forever miss the clues, but I’ll have fun doing it because poetry is fun.

I like how words feel on the tip of my tongue.

So I leave it to you am I a good poet or am I a poser like those who quip “and I know it!?”

Or are there even posers when it comes to the art of poetry? Isn’t it true that all poems and rhymes exist in our hearts?

Poems are nice, rhymes are fun, structure is important, but it’s not mandatory!

Poems like stories are unique snowflakes and those that write them are the deciders of our own fates.

Whatever your opinion whether this is good or bad, I enjoyed writing it does that make me mad?

I suppose it does and that makes me glad!

Glad is another word I’ve heard some say is bad.

But being glad is nice, I’m nice and I’m glad, some words can be simple they convey what they say, now my fingers are tired let’s call this a day.