Words Worth Poem by John Knight

In the last analysis
A poem consists of WORDS.
But not just any old words
In poems words have meaning,
Words have an eternal life,
Words that can change lives forever!

You write the words then set them
In lines - in stanzas - in verse.
You tell the story in style
To give it metre and flow,
To give it life and passion,
To make it memorable!

You speak the words - I hear them.
You hear them as they are heard
By others occupying
Other space and other time!
But is what they hear - what you.............
Have said - What you have spoken?

Modern Poems - like Modern Art
Can now be intepreted,
In different ways and thoughts
Which makes them so so flexible.
My thoughts are now - not your thoughts
Your poem changes for me!

You wrote of horses and foals
I read starving men and boys.
You wrote of idyllic streams
I hear polluted rivers.
You wrote of life's abundance
I see life's depravity.

Is this a problem of poetry?
Poetry at a distance?
You write - You publish - I read!
But you are not here with me
To breath you poem to me,
To emphasise its meaning!

The poem is yours but the..............
Interpretation IS MINE!

Written for all sincere Poemhunters who might sometimes be perplexed by the feed back they get on their poems!

(John Knight - Colchester - September 2009)