Welcome to Shards of Silver

Marianne Moore once defined 'poetry' as "Imaginary gardens with real toads in them". I found this such a striking definition of something that captures the values of poetry that I couldn't leave it alone.

I've been writing - attempting - poetry since I knew how to hold a pen(cil). Some poems I write I like, most I don't, but every now and then I feel compelled to write them down, like a flush of emotion that demands access to some sort of visible medium that can later be accessed and reconsidered. I thought, maybe, that sharing these poems could help me out a little. I welcome critiques, critical and constructive (though I do, of course reserve the right to ignore the sharper sides of people's tongues ;) ), and hope that in return for your help I can leave you with something better than sorry attempts at a craft which only a tiny few have ever really mastered.

Clear Skies~V

Monday, May 31, 2010

Confidences

"How do you love a man who doesn't love you?" she implored me incredulously.
"Easily, if he's a good man. With patience, and hope. With understanding," I reply.
"What if he's an evil man?"
"Why would I love an evil man?"
She opened her mouth to counter, but then realised what I'd said,
and silence fell between us and the words were left dead.


"How do you stand on your feet after that onslaught?" I asked her years later.
"Unsteadily, since I loved him, with help, and with pain. I move onwards." she said.
"What if there's no help to be had?"
"Why would you abandon me?"
I realised as the words left my lips, the dumb of my query 
and so then was able to laugh with her at my folly.

Saturday, May 29, 2010

Kindling

February seems a long memory
Lost underneath layers of spoken words and cooled sugars
that hang like sweetened icicles from the ledges of our lives.
February seems a distant thought
to be remembered by imagery and melody
savoured till perhaps it is rekindled by a month like July.

Monday, May 3, 2010

Rage


Save words by letting go
and simply following the flow of pen's ink on paper.
Letters curling around fingers turning,
whole sentences that burn down houses
pulverise walls in your mind.
Fire soothing water:
the hardest visualisation,
like happiness.
I want keys to break down heaven's doors
and wreck all love's cathedrals.
Bring them down
Bring them down
and give me what I'm owed.

Saturday, May 1, 2010

Providence

Crackling sounds of crisp snow underfoot,
Harbinger of silver linings yet unseen,
Like some broken storm:
A sparrow fallen from providence's high regard
To land gracefully all the same 
Amidst the thorns and lilies of yesterday's forgotten stories.
Haven scorned and blanched in clouded paths,
Non-yellow bricked roadways to lead people over rainbows,
Wishing wells and birds risen from ashes,
Here lie those who fell and were dead,
Will you pay the ferryman to cross our sainted river?