When people discover that I write a blog, they’re curious about why.  I don't have a good answer. The author, Sylvia Plath, does. She says, "I write only because there is a voice in me that will not be still." I can't claim that level of passion. I know that as each title travels to you through electronic space, a new topic captures my attention and begs to be explored. I'm grateful that you are kind enough to read these living insights, and each week I look forward to your comments. 

Nikki Giovanni, master poet, gives her compelling perspective on the exchange that happens between writer and reader:

...a poem is pure energy

horizontally contained

between the mind

of the poet and the ear of the reader

if it does not sing discard the ear

for poetry is song

if it does not delight discard

the heart for poetry is joy

if it does not inform then close

off the brain for it is dead

if it cannot heed the insistent message

that life is precious...

 

We are taught to write early in life. Given the complexity of language, I'm pleased that the 4th grade curriculum includes poetry. To me, it's an art beyond simple writing. I asked my 9-year old granddaughter if she would compose something for us. She began immediately, refreshing my memory that a Haiku is a short, three-line poem with a 5 7 5 syllable pattern, usually with nature as the theme. Here's the beautiful piece she wrote:

Chilly breeze blows by

Quiet whisper in the air

Sun begins to set

 

My grandson's homework was to compose a poem rhyming the 3rd and 5th lines of each stanza. He too is allowing me to share it with you:

I've been known to

Study minerals

Look at a rock

Know how to code

Watch the clock

 

I've been known to

Play Minecraft

Use tools

Climb trees

Swim in pools

 

I've been known to

Play in my fort

See what I find

Crack open rocks

Search through my mind

 

I'm impressed. At the same time as I'm biased by my love for these new authors, I admire their enthusiasm for writing, and the simple elegance of their words. They asked me to include a poem I wrote:

the moon is only half tonight

like time unfilled with you

 

vast velvet is the darkened sky

as cloudy veils

yield gently

where stars push through

to wink at me

and mock my yearning

to reach out

and feel you near

 

silently a star swings low

and wistfully

the sighs locked in my heart

breathe free

to push the length of night away

 

Writing - whether haiku, poetry, blog, email, or comment - is a way to connect, to narrow any distance that may seem to separate us. As Nikki Giovanni says, in our own way, each of us communicates that life is precious.