How A Poem Is Made (Final Version) Poem by Mary Angela Douglas

the inward collapse of an outward certainty
the glaze gives way
so that the white apple trees are suddenly within you
like a field of hidden stars, camera obscura
the Spring day and swaying and you are full of breezes, blossoms:
this then is a poem
the cracking of surfaces
the piecrust broken
the delicious oozing of cherries
mixed in with the melted butter
or on a colder day
the tiny skaters glow within
on a frozen pond
with you as the snow globe
humming the skater's waltz over and over
you just can't help yourself
or sometimes, from the earth arise
in transparencies of Time
a thousand thousand Aprils
and all of them singing.
rhyme past rhyme
this singing mirage
for which I forage.

mary angela douglas 14 october 2021; 11 may 2023