Pursuing different tracks
A published writer advised;
"Don't write about yourself,
you sound like a teenager crying over spilt milk.
Write observations, things outside of you,
or poetry becomes selfish and inward,
and nobody wants to hear a person's thoughts anymore.
The formula, it's all in the formula.
You get it right, you have it, you sell it."
She's even in bookstores that don't have poetry sections
she's doing-poetry-on-tour,
inspiring fledgling poets, who;
write about things outside themselves,
in neat obedient mixed-shake-formula.
Sometimes at night, when trains go by,
I think about what she said;
If I can see in the dark
I walk outside and look up at the sky,
bigger than me, a thing outside myself;
and next time I write;
"I saw the moon, it made me think of sadness, it made me
remember things inside myself and they rolled over like mice in a wheel straining for speed."
I think owing to this,
my books won't have pretty covers
won't move a generation
the moon will continue to reflect thoughts inside to without
and that's just how it is
when trains wake you at night
pursuing different tracks
I think poetry connects us to the essence, and we are part of it all. Different people read poetry for different reasons. Such an interesting subject and enjoyed it all, particularly the last stanza and the metaphor of the train is excellent!
"I wandered lonely as a cloud"... and observed the daffodils (outside of me!) ... Hmm, food for thought, but now you've depressed me!
For some reason I like this. It's originality focuses on the poets style instead of the body and Him or Her. Very different,I must say. Great flow. God bless the unselfish poets-MJG.