cornocopea of language

[Doreen Peri]

(2003)

it is in the rich soft sounds
where music is found,
each sweet syllable metered
to form tone, each beat, the
metronome which counts
the amount of rhythm, each
silent pause and rest, the crest
of a wave of melody, the cause of
beloved echos and swells --
ears treated to euphony.

when the poet projects
audio across the page,
the sheet becomes a stage
dance, the audience entranced
by assonance and consonant
repetition, the resonance
of repeated phrasing, an
amazing journey of fluidity.

words can crash with brass
syntax, lash out like cymbals,
hints of double meanings
tumbling off the tongue;

words can be like skin,
soft, pliable; the spin of a twist
of articulated expression,
scented by lust, oiled
by fluent lyric.

it is in the cornucopea of language
usage where we find the depth of
the sanguine, spherical orb
of sound, where the value
of a poem is found,
where the pound of the heart
is felt --

mellow, full, whole, languid,
solid, fertile, profuse,
autonomous,
warm enough to melt,
hard enough to be dealt out
with a grand slam
to the jaw.

there ought to be a poetry law.
words spoken in linguistic communication
should have a grand relevation along
with an acute relation to each other.

not that the music should smother
the meaning. instead, it should
enhance it, gleaning further worth.

the birth of a poem comes from
fertilizing ideas with the emergence
of perfectly suited and blended words.


12.18.2003
dp