How Do You Analyse A Poem! ? Poem by Denis Martindale

Though many would advise we read a poem line by line,
There really seems much more to heed, as I have learnt from mine!
I fight to find a title fit to set in motion then
The urge to wait and simply sit before I use my pen...
Yet when words come, my heart responds, my pen leaps to the page
And whirrs as if a thousand wands at every single stage.
I chase the words that come to me, the words none else could know,
The words that spark new poetry and cause the ink to flow...
Then, as the first to analyse, I fix my eyes on much,
As if I am the one most wise to add each fine-tuned touch.
Alliterations then appear with wisdom Scriptures teach,
God's precious treasure trove each year and every way to preach...
Yet in the midst of all such ways, I pray and meditate,
Despite the setbacks and delays, these times help me create.
With phrases checked and spellings, too, I read my poem still,
As if I know when I am through, these serve to please God's will...
Let others analyse my themes, my concepts and my rhymes,
As if these were my hopes and dreams, the symbols of my times...
Yet can they know the good achieved in people's hearts and more,
The lost souls who in time believed, or those that I wrote for?
I trust in God who gave me gifts, His lessons here and there,
Each winsome phrase that often lifts the downcast in despair.
The humour I expressed as well, the puns that made me smile,
The tall tales that I had to tell, the truths that took a while...
The chance to use the Internet, the chance to e-mail stuff,
Such wonders I will not forget, since poetry I love
And if I shared advice to aid some poets now and then,
I praise the Lord, the God who made each poet, page and pen...


Denis Martindale July 2016.