Poetry Friday — Process and Product

Posted

I’m lurching along in my exploration of process.
Have faith; it’s coalescing.

But today I don’t even have to be articulate about it because it’s Poetry Friday and I’ll let Alice Walker speak.

This poem hearkens back to my post on Tuesday when I talked about appreciating process, in part because every step of process is in the final product. The two are inextricable. What we make is what we’ve been through. The path is apparent in the place we reach.

 

How Poems are Made
— Alice Walker

Letting go
In order to hold one
I gradually understand
How poems are made.  

 

There is a place the fear must go.
There is a place the choice must go.
There is a place the loss must go.
The leftover love.
The love that spills out
Of the too full cup
And runs and hides
Its too full self
In shame. 

 

I gradually comprehend
How poems are made.
To the upbeat flight of memories.
The flagged beats of the running
Heart. 

 

I understand how poems are made.
They are the tears
That season the smile.
The stiff-neck laughter
That crowds the throat.
The leftover love.
I know how poems are made. 

 

There is a place the loss must go.
There is a place the gain must go.
The leftover love.

 

 

16 Responses to “Poetry Friday — Process and Product”

  1. Anonymous

    How Poems Are made

    Elaine M.

    Liz,

    Thanks for this poem. I really like what Walker says in it. I’ve been collecting poems about poetry. I’ll definitely add this one to the folder.

  2. saralholmes

    I feel like I should just quietly say amen…and go back to work, so I too will “gradually understand.”

    Thanks for your exploring.

  5. cloudscome

    OK I am going to start letting go and just stand back and listen to Ms. Walker. Let her wisdom sink in for a while. Thanks for giving us this poem.