I want to write a poem

[Doreen Peri]

I want to write a poem that moans and weeps,
creeps itself beneath the surface of your skin,
begins in the middle of something completely
unexpected, resurrects the purpose of a breath,
and when the poem comes, death becomes a revision
with each additional image, each additional line,
inhales and exhales are granted permission to continue
with the rise and fall of a breastbone, each word coming
and becoming again. The poem I want to write will have
no end, lyrics drifting into what you thought would
be a void but what isn't at all, full to overflowing,
the call of a living mantra as decibels electronically vibrate
the warm sticky blood that flows through your veins.
The poem I want to write awaits the same way a man
will wait for a woman to come and the exact way a woman
lounges on the veranda while she stares at her cell phone
clock, each stanza walking in one step then the next, texts
being ignored as she pours herself a drink, thinks it
might be him who'll call next. This is how a poem can
arrive, not all at once but with bit-by-bit relief, as it teases
its way into a moment without warning and this is the poem
I want to write, one that seizes an empty night and lights a
fire in the pit of your sternum. I want to write a poem that
unbuckles Orion's Belt, starlight forming a halo around
his head.

......

I wrote this in January 2015 in response to a challenge/prompt on another site.

[saw]

well, I think you wrote that poem you'd like to write....and it ain't easy to unbuckle Orion's Belt...

[theirishsea]

Nice poem. I enjoyed it. Don't put it on the other forum. They will drain your desire to write any tender or lyrical poem. They will tie your Muse to a tree and shoot arrows.

I think these lines are excellent.

I want to write a poem that
unbuckles Orion's Belt, starlight forming a halo around
his head.

[Doreen Peri]

That's where it was inspired, Dan. It was a "challenge" posted by Linda. No restrictions in format or length. It just had to start with "I want to write a poem", apparently an exercise given to her daughter in writing class in school.

Thanks, Steve and Dan. I think this is one of my favorites of all I've written this year, but it's hard to judge my own work. I'm glad it worked on some levels for both of you. I appreciate you reading and commenting so kindly.