Anonymous
Inspired By: “Thirteen Ways Of Looking At A Blackbird” by Wallace Stevens
I
The poem put into words
the feelings that they struggled to convey.
II
Sunshine poured through the window
and the student gazed longingly
and then turned sadly back to the blank document
where she wished there was a poem.
III
Why do you novelists waste your time
with your excess of words?
Do you not see how the poem
is the more beautiful and simple way
to express yourself?
IV
I know how to identify the alliterations
and similes and metaphors;
but I know, too,
that there are more ways
to know a poem.
V
At the sound of a good poem
even the most apathetic towards English
must give pause and appreciate the beauty.
VI
I do not know which to prefer,
the mellifluous flow of words
or the profound theme,
the sound while I am reading
or the feeling I am left with just after.
VII
I doubt that Shakespeare counted his poem’s
syllables on his fingers like I do.
VIII
Day became night
and night became day
and that single line from that one poem
lingered in her head.