What Do You Think Of? Poem by Tom Courtney

What do you think of when you think
poetry?
What is the essence?
Is it the rhyme or is it the meter?
Is it the style or is it the flow?
Is it the content or is it the message?
Is it universal or personal?
I think
poetry is all these things

Poetry is
more concise than prose
less concise than silence
more profound than chat
less profound than a sigh
spoken in the day
whispered in the night
floating in the breeze
etched on a stony heart
breaking a heart with a phrase
building a hope with a word
translating perception into reality
and reality into perception
giving you me and giving you you
taking what we need and saying what we can
bold and shy, flamboyant and grave
bristling, shimmering, glistening, shining
hiding and teasing, sure and unsure
wandering and waiting
waiting and wondering
trying and succeeding
trying and failing
expressing, painting
pointing, hoping
dreaming, doing
doing, saying
saying, spoken
spoken, written
written, read
experienced, lived
our journey
our so-strange journey
with no destination
no looking around the bend
just walking in our way
our amazing way