It’s National Poetry Day, so here’s something from one of our members, CB Donald, to mark the occasion.
The Poetry Voice
I never could perfect the poetry voice,
that slow and stultifying trick of sound.
Not for me that inward-facing implement,
designed to dig a deceptively shallow
chasm between the listener and I.
I never could perfect the poetry voice:
that carefully painful intonation
speaking of something on the edge
of understanding, but never coalescing
into anything like a concrete meaning.
I never could perfect the poetry voice,
so full of yearning significance.
Those
long
drawn-out
spaces
just seemed the very artifice I hated:
a needless building of dividing walls.
I never could perfect the poetry voice.
I always craved a point in every line;
a narrative that I could follow
to a logical and – dare I say –
predictable conclusion. A full stop.
Should I try to perfect the poetry voice?
To give in to the air-kissed literati
and finally agree to sacrifice my art
on the reverential and unread altar
of an acceptable lack of accessibility?
No. Not for me, the poetry voice.
I’ll fade into the dark by being blunt,
by saying what I mean the way I want.
Still, better to pretend you had the choice
when you really can’t perfect the poetry voice.
CB Donald 2013