Metapoetry | Teen Ink

Metapoetry

December 18, 2010
By RedheadAtHeart ELITE, Mountain Home, Idaho
RedheadAtHeart ELITE, Mountain Home, Idaho
109 articles 0 photos 164 comments

Favorite Quote:
Love with open hands. - Madeleine L'Engle


1
Sometimes, you know,
when you're writing a poem
you come up with one essential
fragment
that you think will turn out
to be the soul of the poem
but it turns out to be,
instead,
some unimportant little cell on the finger of the poem
and something else
comes out of nowhere
to be the soul.
unexpectedly, you know,
because you never know
what a poem’s going to be
until tomorrow
and you will always be told that you'll find out tomorrow...
even if tomorrow comes
174 times,
and still they haven't told you.
At some point,
you have to find out the meaning of the poem for yourself.
2 - Presumptuous Revision
Writing about poems is a difficult task.
It doesn't come easily. You can't just ask.
Every poem has a mind of its own,
Some come in droves and some all alone.
Every poem decides what it wants to be,
Long before it arrives in the mind of me.
And I have to take it the way it appears,
Without changing the words to make sense to my ears.
These poems are already perfect as can be,
Needing no presumptuous revision from me.
For I am just me, a poetic receiver,
And all of you are the honest believers
That I write these poems. Guess what. I do not.
People tend to think that I write them a lot.
Have I got some news for them! It's not me.
Somehow, in some way, it's God's poetry.
And it's sent to me by way of inspiration,
And you all seem to think that it's my imagination.
But I am given these poems already as wholes.
It's only my job to make them touch your souls.
2 1/2 - A Different Opinion
Where do poems come from? Oh, where do they stay?
Why do they come to me and then go away?
Where do they hide when I’m searching around
For some mischievous poem that doesn’t want to be found?
And why do they come? Does anyone know?
Is it sunshine? Or wind? Or rain? Is it snow?
Do they blow along to us on the breeze?
Do they fall with the snow in winter’s cold freeze,
Gathering on the ground till someone picks them up?
Are they carefully cradled in each raindrop?
Do they stream down in sunshine on warm July days?
How do they come? Can one count the ways?
If they don’t come with weather, then how do they reach
Our minds and our world, become part of our speech?
What is this magic these naughty poems use?
An old gentleman told me they use Mes and Yous.
Oh, he was a poetic expert, no doubt.
He knew everything poetry is ever about.
He’d been around for a while. He sure wasn’t dumb.
But I don’t think he knew how or why the poems come.
Oh, I don’t know either, not really, not yet.
But I don’t think their method has truly been set.
I think they take whatever chance they can get
To make a little happiness for a world they’ve just met.
For we’re not the first world. We won’t be the last.
Poems are sprinkled throughout both future and past.
But so many centuries poems have been trying
To make these worlds perfect – and when they can’t, they’re crying.
I think the problem is, in all of these years,
Poems still can’t get through our atmospheres.


The author's comments:
Metapoetry is a word I believe I came up with. It comes from the word 'metacognition,' which means 'thinking about thinking.' I figured that tacking 'meta' onto 'poetry' would make 'poetry about poetry.'

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This article has 3 comments.


on Feb. 14 2011 at 10:13 am
NonsensicalMuse PLATINUM, San Anotnio, Texas
22 articles 0 photos 87 comments

Favorite Quote:
"There is nothing wrong with having your head in the clouds as long as you don't get altitude sickness"

"Perhaps you are right,perhaps not. I don't know 110% either way.All I know is that Im in search of truth. If you are too, let us be friends."

I love this poem!! I tell people the exact same thing about my poems- "I may write them down but they don't come from me."

Whenever I write it's like someone else is whispering the words into my mind. Often times I'm not entirely sure what I'm writing until I'm done. It usually takes me a few days to read through and understand the point of the poem I've just written.

Sorry I was kinda rambling......


mememelo said...
on Feb. 9 2011 at 9:24 pm
mememelo, Lamar, South Carolina
0 articles 0 photos 46 comments

Favorite Quote:
"

 

wow i really love this poem and the whole title thing that was cool... i LOVE it so far by you this is my fave and your are talented :):) 2 thumbs up and 2 big toes up lol :)


on Feb. 7 2011 at 2:20 pm
RiverSong BRONZE, Baltimore, Maryland
3 articles 0 photos 100 comments
Hey, I'm RiverSong.  If you haven't noticed, I'm reading all your stuff. (I promise I'm not a stalker--you're just REALLY TALENTED!!) I have a question for you: Is it possible to run out of room for new favorites on your profile? Because at the rate I'm going, everything you've written is going to end up as one of my favorites. Keep on writing :D