FINDING THE WORDS

WHERE DID YOU FIND THAT LOVELY POEM?

I found it in a very murky place.
Stirring sludge I dredged it up,
dripping.

I found it in the branches of the trees,
shreds in hedges, rags in branches,
flapping.

I searched around for pieces that would match,
in the cupboards where I’d stored them,
waiting.

I let it tell me what it had to say.
It came alive. I felt its pulse
beating.

I stacked it up, hacked it up,
added bits, moved it round,
changed it, rearranged it.

chiselled it to slenderness,
trimmed it, thinned it,
let the wind in it.

I let the wind blow half of it away,
cherished fragments, in the distance,