Today’s poem arose from a writing exercise.
I took a blank piece of paper and wrote whatever words came into my head until I had filled it. No stopping, no thinking about the contents and no criticism. I just wrote.
Then I read it and wondered if there was a poem lurking in there.
This came slowly out.
the silence of the great extinction
settled on the shoulders of the survivors
stalling all thoughts of celebration
as if for the first time
they clearly saw all that had been lost
as if for the first time
so set to work
shipping in from beyond the stars
mechanical birds to jewel their skies
and fill a niche long vacated
by sinew and bone
feather and wing
see how their propellers idle
as the thermal spirals then ever higher
to spectrograph heaven with their metal tongues
I got the idea of mechanical birds to jewel the skies and the propellers from the writing, the rest evolved over a couple of weeks and many revisions.
Here’s The Mamas and Papas.
Until next time.