Poetry
William Wordsworth defined poetry as
"the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings:
“it takes its origin from emotion
“recollected in tranquility".
If this is true, it’s not poetry I write.
Nor do I think all who call themselves poets
would fit this description, either.
Many, of course, wrote of
these powerful feelings. But often,
these are not the poems I seek to read.
I wish I had the talent to write “Absalom and Achitophel”
Or “A Satire Against Mankind” or “Rape of the Lock”.
Telling a saga, epic or mock, in rhymed couplets
Is a skill far beyond mine. To satirize my world
Is hard enough in prose. But in couplets?
And then there’s the “powerful feelings."
Mine tempered always by my phlegmatic nature.
The ancients would have seen in me one
in whom things are analyzed in tranquility.
Occasionally there may be a “spontaneous overflow,”
but mostly channeled through a Celtic yell,
a dance, or a full-bellied laugh. Yet these are rare.
Still I pen my poems. Never a poet;
Just one who writes poetry and loves
and honors those whose talent outshines mine.
