Mythopoesis 26 – Unraveling The Poem

For NaPoWriMo Day 26

And For The Sunday Whirligig: Whirligig #4 http://sundayswhirligig.blogspot.com/

mottled, velour, purse, ink, dissonant, shade, stain, lace, diaphanous, clip, iridescent, weather

Unraveling The Poem

But, Darien sir, I still don’t
understand how a poem
can be a kitten?

Well, Joey, I said that a poem
is about a moment, or an experience.
But , that is only the beginning.
A poem can be anything. It is
whatever the poet wants it to be.
Maliah used metaphor in her poem.
That is a direct comparison between
two dissimilar things. By telling and showing
us the kitten, she was telling and showing
us about the poem.

Joey turns a confused
look on the man
from Interlude.

First, Maliah told us the kitten
was white with a black heart spot
in the middle of his forehead.
We already know that black and white
are opposites, and there is a great
deal of distance between those two things.
The head is concerned with thoughts, ideas,
logic, while the heart is about feelings.
This may often cause a certain dissonance
within the individual, a conflict, or disagreement.
You said you could see the kitten playing
but it didn’t make sense that a poem
could be a kitten. A poem,
this poem, was as playful as that kitten,
but also pointed out a very real experience.
We all have moments when our heads
and hearts are telling us two different things.
I could just as easily say that this poem
is a Joey with mottled ink stains
on each of his five fingers.
That might be because Joey only owns
one ink pen. It’s old and leaky.
But Joey is like that kitten that wants
to grow, to learn, to know. So Joey,
like that kitten, and this poem, just keeps using
what he has, keeps reaching for what he wants.

Joey looks down at his hand, smiles
a sad smile, then slowly raises the hand
to show his classmates different shades
of ink stains on his fingers. Some
of the children smile, but Julie reaches
into her book bag/purse and offers him
two extra pens from the many she owns.

And the man from Interlude, aware
of bright glare in Joey’s eyes,
points to the sky and says, “It looks
like the weather might become disagreeable.
Perhaps we should stop for now
and continue tomorrow.

Elizabeth Crawford  4/26/15

Notes: Again, this is a continuation of my experiment with mythopoesis (making-myth). The poem, being discussed within the post, may be found here: https://soulsmusic.wordpress.com/2015/04/11/mythopoesis-11-dreaming-a-poem/ Trying to use the word list was difficult, but I did manage to use 8 of the 12. The image is a kaleidoscope made from a pen and ink zen doodle.