ABPA - Australian Bush Poets Association

You've all been so brave so I'll cautiously throw my hat in the ring. This is my one and only effort. I've changed it quite a bit Terry.

The Power

A solitary word,
staring at me;
blinking,
mute expectation on a blank page.

Meaningless.
Nothingness.
Pointless.

But, give it a friend,
or better yet, a group of friends.
Watch as it draws breath;
eyes sparkle;
it stretches, yawns, smiles cheekily;
it grows tall and strong.

Hands are joined, arms linked.
Elation!
Skip, float, dance, change places.
Change places.
Change places.

Stepping on each other’s toes.
Jostling, nudging, elbowing.
Change places.
Sometimes, one has to go to make room for another.
Unfortunate - but necessary.

Colour;
passion;
rage;
indignation;
laughter;
tears.

POWER!

The birth of a poem - what a wonderful moment ... power indeed, and our words do have power. The power to instigate change, the power to move people to tears and make people laugh and to raise indignation. The power of the pen of a passionate poet should never be underestimated. Nicely done Heather.

the pen is mightier than the ankle. Now you have no excuse to hold off writing.

I reckon you have made good use of figurative language.
After reading the works and opinions of prominent and recognised poets, I believe that figurative language is vitally important in all types of poetry, informal or formal metric and rhyme, ballads or even comical yarns.

The birth of any piece of writing Maureen. One word on a page has very little meaning. It's only when you give it other words that it starts to tell a story and the choice of words is very important - which is exactly what we've been talking about here. I get great enjoyment out of finding a good word, then an even better word and maybe an even betterer word. Sometimes you find that you need to change the order of the words to get more out of them.

The ankle is the least of my problems Neville. It's the lack of blood getting to my head that's the problem! I wrote a poem during my convalescence - Kelly's Corner, and I've been tinkering but I'm waiting for that bolt of lightening to hit me.

Great poem Heather.


I once used this very concept with a group of after school care kids (7-10 yrs) which I'd been invited to share some poetry with. I was explaining the magic of words. The word I started with was "tree" and they were asked to add a word to bring new meaning. Most of the answers were fairly tame but it got them thinking, then I suggested placing the word Christmas in front of it and whammo!!! Eyes lit up and we progressed to "presents under the christmas tree" and so on. Before long we'd written a short story which everyone contributed to with enthusiasm. No stopping the ideas after that.
Sometimes we just need to take time to show kids the magic.

Cheers
Sue

Thanks Sue. I know it's very simple but it's a start. Of course it could still be a bad poem!

That sounds great what you did with the kids. It's enough to spark the imagination - and all kids have imagination.

Heather

In bucket loads Heather. I have fond memories of that day, especially the enthusiasm. They were keen to carry on, but the point I was making was, the story started out with one word "tree" and with a little imagination turned into a short story. For weeks after they were leaving stories and poems with the co ordinator for my perusal. Just thinking.....I should do it again...soon.

It is a good poem Heather.

Thanks Sue, i really do appreciate you commenting. It honestly felt like launching my first ever poem again -- scary as hell! I'm so conscious that there are people who can do it so much better and know so much more than i do. A little bit of encouragement goes a long way so thank you. I need to do some more reading of non rhyming poetry. I really enjoyed Beach Burial by Kenneth Slessor and i think Country Town is one of his too and that ticked a few boxes.

Heather

It's called going out on a limb Heather-but hey, what's the worst that can happen? As I said in another thread, we are very fortunate to have some of the best to guide us here. I'm still trying to grasp it.

Cheers
Sue

I think you can.
I think you can.
I think you can.

I know you can.