destroyed by poetry

by

Doug Larson

the world was shouting at me today
even the starfish leaves
standing and yelling in a sea of trees
tinted every shade of green
that there has ever been
the seagulls pandering me for attention
every blade of grass screaming
paper bags and obscene trash complaining
their protesting voices carried to my ears
on a querulous summer’s breeze

and everything was poetry

an entire world clamoring for me to hear the stories
an entire world imprisoned within
the stainless steel gleam of a tanker truck
trapped inside undulating reflections of light
entwined in the hungry grinding cogs
of the machine
and I found myself drowning in beauty
and pain
realizing with sudden intense despair
that there is loss in the universe

oh yes

too many stories to tell
tales and insight dying in the freefall of a dead leaf
crumbling into nothing in the screaming grass
voices drowning in the pulchritude
gargling into loam and worms
and pain

pain is beauty and beauty is a terrible anchor to bear
dragging me beneath the whitecaps in a sea of poetry
for I realized today
that everything is poetry
and there are too many stories to tell
so many that will never be known
too many that will die alone

I was destroyed by poetry today
poetry that will never be written
poetry that will echo as unspoken howls of pain
inside my brain
until I gargle in unrenowned silence
disappearing with my unexplored stories
into the quiet company
of loam and worms

NEXT?
Why don't you look at There in the gray of the morning
by: Francis Duggan
from: Wonthaggi, Victoria, Australia

To visit all of Doug Larson's poems, click HERE

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