(I wrote this piece when I was 12 or 13. Inspired by a similar poem about music I enjoyed, these verses gave me an opportunity to 'become' the thing I was writing about. First-person exposition has always come naturally for me, and inhabiting the subject of this pre-teen doggerel was a simple act of imagination. It was not the first or last time I would attempt to 'embody' an idea (ie, 'poetry'), and I encourage all young writers to experiment with their narrative voices by describing how they perceive the world from 'within' something else.
Please note: grammar and syntax have been improved where applicable [see original handwritten draft below]. The last two lines of the piece were added after the poem was retrieved from archives in 2014.)
Please note: grammar and syntax have been improved where applicable [see original handwritten draft below]. The last two lines of the piece were added after the poem was retrieved from archives in 2014.)
I am poetry.
I live and will live to the end of days and beyond.
I exist in every man’s hopes, every man’s dreams.
I make order from chaos.
I live.
I live to breathe the breath of harmony and melody.
To weave men’s hearts and break them time and time again.
I bring happiness to the soul of one who mourns.
I love, hate, care, despise, reject.
I bring hope, life and meaning.
I portray the countless emotions of the human soul.
I exist in nature, the break of the wave, the light of stars, the song of birds.
I am poetry.
I live, I flourish.
I weave the countless combinations of words,
To music and song, to life and existence,
Great choirs and countless violas.
I am in the Sun and the Moon.
I order the harmony of the universe and the swirling of the galaxies.
I conduct the birth of stars and witness their destruction.
I am feeling.
The innumerable pulses from the human soul,
Words that live and grow.
For this, I am poetry and I live.
As I have since the dawn of time.
So I shall until the last celestial spark is extinguished.
I am poetry.
I live.
(1987)
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