Thought Forms and Poetry

The poem which won a school contest back in the Stone Age was almost certainly a rephrasing of a lullaby my mother sang, "Baby's boat's a silver moon". In college, mostly because my boyfriend was French-Canadian, I wrote a few things in French and my French teacher gave them to the Orange and White, the school newspaper.

After that, poetry became a kind of shorthand for me. Working and raising a family, I didn't have the time to unburden myself with anything longer than a poem, but I could jot down an image between chores or while riding a bus or subway.

Once I had an unforgettable dream: I was in a kind of museum of Thought Forms, a large hall with all kinds of structures like sculptures, but made from some unknown material. "This is pure thought", my guide said. "One form can be translated many ways. It can be a mathematical equation, a social system, a piece of music, a painting. You are looking at the essence of these things, but they may be interpreted an infinite number of ways."

Poetry is almost always Metaphor (from the Greek metapherein, to transfer) or Allegory (allegorein, to speak figuratively); that's the nature of language which makes it more of a miracle for someone to "get it" as for someone to emit it.

I have scribbled out about 13 collections of poetry (11 of them unpublished and two self-published) with maybe 50 related poems in each.  Some of the early stuff is pretty embarrassing. It makes me think of Mike Keeley's comment "It is clear that you are a poet, but what kind of poet remains to be seen." All this writing may be sheer self-indulgence, but I figure that whichever way we choose to express ourselves, there are skills which must be acquired and craft which must be practiced. As you see, I practice all the time. Maybe too much.