! To William Carlos Williams, Sorta Poem by Michael Shepherd

I would talk to you
of shadows cast by street lights;
but not so much in words

rather, take a walk with you,
say, this is a street I know well,
may we walk together?

not to influence or be insistent,
but rather, see this, and this, so
let’s pause a while here,

perhaps just for a comma, or a space, or
the setting out upon the page,
a walk together,

a poem as a guiding of the reader
in the experience of the poem
I’d like to share,

not as insistence but rather
see it as loving care
as one would unwrap

some treasured heirloom
from its silk wrapping – this
I care for, you should know

and perhaps, as we walk together
through the experience of the poem
there’ll grow, a friendly trust

of imagination shared;
and like old friends, we can then talk
of anything, of everything.