How Is A Good Poem Written? Poem by Denis Martindale

How is a good poem written?
Is it from Heaven sent?
Does it come one day unbidden?
No purpose, no intent?
As if by random chance to rest
Within the poet's heart,
As if this were some treasure chest
Where all good poems start?

And is that poet worthy of
The content that's therein?
To fashion thoughts, stirred on by love,
Some precious prize to win?
And is that poet famous now,
Or with his name unknown?
Yet to become esteemed somehow,
No more at home alone?

And can it be that God commands
That poet to receive,
His lonesome life to then enhance,
That he might yet believe?
That God loves him and hears his prayers,
For some great verse to write,
Then answers with each rhyme He shares,
With visions day and night?

And did the Prophets share God's thoughts
In ancient times gone by,
God's angels sent with their reports,
With wisdom from on high?
With insights of the future kings,
Their names and exploits, too,
For Prophets to write down such things,
To prove God's Word is true?

Or are good poems borne of Man,
His intellect and guile,
His memory of life to scan
That makes him weep or smile?
His chosen times to learn what brings,
His switched-round rhymes to suit,
His tinkerings, his editings,
That he might seem astute?

All that I know, from rhymes I penned,
Is that God's on my side,
As if He seeks to stay my friend,
So my heart's opened wide,
To higher thoughts and higher themes,
To precious pearls of grace,
To penetrate my nightly dreams,
Man's follies to replace...

Then come the poems week-by-week,
Like pages from a book,
With all the goodness that I seek,
For me to take a look,
Such that my pen pours out the lines,
The stories to unfold,
As if fulfilling God's designs,
With treasures good as gold!


Denis Martindale October 2016.