! ! Reaching For The Dictionary Poem by Michael Shepherd

! ! Reaching For The Dictionary

Rating: 2.9


That efficient movement of the arm –
let it be without impatience,
watched, aware, even graceful –

does not feature in a ballet,
or a film; although it could;
unlikely to be described in a novel;

and as for poetry… no poem yet,
no ode yet owed, to that word-hoard
with which, indirectly, poets live and breathe
and share their being…

but when the moment comes, is seen to come –
how beautiful that movement, full
of assurance, of anticipation
of what this may yield…

for lovely though the world
of that poetic imprecision
which teases the reading, writing mind,
plays with the emotions,
releases the imagination like a glorious balloon…

it’s now the moment to look down
from the basket of the balloon
soaring so gently over green fields and earth,
and look for landmarks for a clear descent..

sometimes, it’s those geeky, Greeky words
like metempsychosis or synecdoche,
ontological, epistemological…

sometimes, those simple words
like soul, or self…

the pages thumbed over – the choice of paper,
so thin, so strong, just right, itself
brings an intelligent respect –

aah, that’s what it really means…
a moment of treasured satisfaction;
the mind a little clearer now;
the heart perhaps, may know its warmth
in later, wiser ways; actions, too,
may (if we ever notice) be subtly altered,

as the flutter of the butterfly’s frail, strong wings
in some Amazonian rain-forest,
is sometimes said to be felt
throughout the world…

universal mind may breathe a gentle sigh;
language itself, allow a passing smile;

there’s order in the world; harmony
is heard in music beyond words;

the arm and hand, now so graceful,
reassured; the beauty of the mind
so quickly registered that it may
escape; a gratitude perhaps
as quick as eye-blink, and as unobserved -

the arm and hand replace
the dictionary there upon the shelf.

COMMENTS OF THE POEM
David Taylor 08 February 2008

Michael, such a gentle wealth of words...... David

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Mary Gordley 08 February 2008

Dictionary or not, I don't think I have ever had pause to question your selection or placement of a single word. This was great fun to read.

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Not just because it's my favourite book in the world (and that in turn is not just because my father used to bribe me with chocolate to read and absorb a page a day) ... this is one of the most beautifully composed, serene, absorbing pieces I have ever read. Hell, I'd even prefer it over some of Eliot, and you know that from me there is no bigger compliment. And I'll bet you wrote it in five seconds prompted by reaching for a dictionary, too... though why you would ever need to look up a word I can't imagine, since you know them all already. t x

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Emancipation Planz 07 February 2008

Word-hoard; word-whore; similies; pass the Thesaurus please...

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Michael Shepherd

Michael Shepherd

Marton, Lancashire
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