Poetry: An Introduction


Even the most pedestrian affair
has a certain poetry.
Just today I saw a wind
swirling on a city street,
garbage flying in circles,
and thought of what you said,
how you kissed him
and a wind rose up
around the two of you,
and here I was,
walking on a city street
to pick up photos
of a beautiful beach
with you in it,
photos that I took
in a wind that I felt,
that made a mist of the sand,
photos of your smile
that I felt, on that beach,
but in this photo
is just a smile,
and in this photo
there is no wind.
Do you feel it now,
rushing through juxtapositions,
stirring the leaves long dead
to rise to your eyes
and make of this
bright brutal world
a flickering Kinetoscope?
Do you feel it abrading mountains
and unnerving the sea?
Let me introduce you.
This is poetry.


Nov 1999