The Other Counterpart Of Poetry (On Open And Closed Poetry) Poem by Gert Strydom

(In answer to Elizabeth Jennings)

At times clarity, which goes hand in hand with simplicity
do the strongest greatest most powerful poems make
where this kind of poems do bare the distinct ability
that even a child can read and understand and in this poetry can partake

and I am sure that some obscurity has got its function and place,
that the dark and the unconscious mind do at times great symbolisms find
but then simplicity is far easier to understand and trace
and here I am not trying to tread on any toes or to be unkind.

The most difficult poems to compose
are those that are flowing, are open and simple, have spontaneity
and from the darkness close to quarrel a image may arose
but great taste cannot be stipulated to classification of that which we see.

The problem is that sound and feeling is lost if we do reason in this way
where the lovely onionskin poems full of obscurity do fall apart
(when they do not say what the poet wanted to portray)
if only one of the onionskins (or segments)is rotten it has stopped being art

and in this even the senses, the feeling and all meaning do break down
when poems are cryptic (when the idea of the poem is difficult to understand)
when we cannot make a-logic transitions of our own
and where the field of reference of the poet do outside our own stand.

Abstract art do certainly have its place, as art cannot be restricted
and wholeheartedly I do agree with being absolutely honest with sincerity,
as we are sometimes writing about unseen things that were predicted
in ways that other people can perceive and see

while we are commenting on life, are giving a confession of life, and its things
but brighter still the truth, the patience and kindness do shine in the night
where life at times heartache, pain suffering and tears do bring
while forevermore God is the Lamb the truth and the clear light.

[Reference:"The counterpart" by Elizabeth Jennings.]

© Gert Strydom