A few poems for your consideration

Let's get one thing straight from the outset: I don't consider myself a poet. However, every once in a while a poem or lyrical fragment comes to me and I have to accept a little token of the universe's appreciation, or whimsy, or whatever it might be. And they are little tokens; I rarely write anything longer than a few stanzas, and more often I'll write in a haiku style.

I was inspired to write this first haiku by observing a flock of small birds flying in circles before deciding which way to go. The changing positions of their wings created a shimmery, almost hypnotic effect. A university student at the time I wrote this, I still feel this poem resonating within myself. I originally wrote this as a shaped poem to evoke the visual effect of swirling birds, but I haven't yet figured out how to do that in HTML, so this version will have to do.

The next haiku came to me on a particularly bad day at university. I can't remember why, but I was in an utterly foul, black mood. I wanted to kick and hurt and destroy things, people, whoever or whatever had the misfortune to cross my path on my way back to my car. As I trudged up a hill just above the parking lot, I was suddenly, completely awed by one of the most magnificent sunsets I have ever witnessed. The sky, striated with clouds, blazed with shades of pink, orange, purple, and gold. I didn't have a camera that day, so it lives only in my memory. But the vision of that sunset completely changed my mood. After seeing it, I just couldn't be angry anymore. It was as if nature had sensed what I needed and presented me with a gift. My poem can't even begin to convey how the sunset changed me that day, but I offer it anyway as paltry thanks.

Note: I have a feeling I am remembering this one incorrectly. I'll leave it for now, and I'll amend it if I manage to find the notebook with this poem in it.

Here's a parody of a William Carlos Williams poem, inspired by actual events (well, except for the eating part!). :)

You might guess from this next one that I wasn't feeling very positive about life when I wrote it. You would be correct.

I wrote this while practically in a fugue state -- I hardly even remember writing it. I think I'd been watching a year-in-review show that night, and, well...let's face it: 2001 was a sucky year. I don't know if this poem is any good, but it is an authentic representation of how I was feeling at that moment, so here it is anyway.

More poems to come as the muse inspires, or as I find other places where I've written them down in the past.

Last updated 14 March 2002