Late one night this week I penned these words just before drifting off to sleep:
Why do we get fatter
When we are starved?
Why do we get so bloated
When we are empty
Sometimes what we want
Is not what we need
There is a difference sometimes
Sometimes what we want
Is disguised
Sometimes what we want
Is out of reach
Or so it seems
So we reach for something else
But maybe what I really want
Is to feel the runner’s high
Maybe what I really need
Is to be heard
Maybe what I really miss
Is your embrace
And being with you
Instead of alone
I don’t know if I remember well
How that feels
When I read through the poem at the end, I asked myself what it meant. I wrote down several words and phrases that came to mind. Ten, to be exact. In the coming weeks, you will see posts on some of these. Through this method I hope to demonstrate a bit of the process of self-discovery that can occur through writing poetry. Sometimes a poem is the result of what I see, but other times a poem is the lens through which I begin to see. As a reader, you too are a large part of this process. If you read the poem and write down ten words or phrases it makes you think of, I doubt they will be the exact same as mine. That is a wonderful thing about writing. David Schildkret, the director of choral activities at Arizona State University (with whom I’ve had the privilege of working under) has said:
The composer and performers are not actually making art, even though we think we are. We provide the stimulus to the audience’s imagination, and they are the ones actually creating the art.
I believe the same applies to readers. The author may think they are making art, but it is the reader that makes it come alive in her own mind.
Maybe what I really need
Is to be heard
I’m listening! ❤
Hi from Xi'an, just remembering your adventure of the stolen wallet.
LikeLike
Thank you for listening! Yes, that was quite the adventure!
LikeLike