Word-Linked Fences Poem by Odin Roark

Word-Link Fences
by Odin Roark

To write for,
or against,
that is the question.

Whether ‘tis nobler to fence in
or fence out word disturbances wise.

To protect or let run free?

Such is the wordsmith's dilemma.

Writing for the rational mind
asks much of the compassionate heart,
for words conjure images,
and pictures coil emotions.

With so many memories often imprisoned,
many with their debt to honesty paid,
regret shackles movement with unforgiving self-guilt.

Still, freedom beckons an untrammelled wordscape.

Lexicons of invention anticipate birth,
await reflected experience surging forth,
whether of concave pain
or break-out celebration,
all are life's unbridled expression
eyeing the fence.

So…

Be not judgmental, dear scribnik,
Seek not but open arms of acceptance.

Listen to all.

Hear the all.

Embrace those less-gifted
who might struggle to comprehend,
who might disagree with your stanzas of choice,
offered to open the gate,
the universal unlatched exit
to everyone's word-linked fences.

Those who trust…

Will accept your mind of no agenda,
your willing heart of open countenance,
the sharing of elements that can empower
others to act upon their own expression,
for without expressing what one thinks and feels,
be it with brush,
baton
chisel,
or keyboard,
is to forever corral the stallion within,
the unbridled energy of nature's creation.

Lest we forget…

Within everyone's weathered storms
rests the many shocks of change,
often concretizing the heart and mind
into a rock.

But, to remain a rock,
is to think the past
has precluded the future.