Poem White Page White Page Poem

Pierre Bonnard

 

 

Poem White Page White Page Poem

Poem white page white page poem

something is streaming out of a body in waves

something is beginning from the fingertips

they are starting to declare for my whole life

all the despair and the making music

something like wave after wave

that breaks on a beach

something like bringing the entire life

to this moment

the small waves bringing themselves to white paper

something like light stands up and is alive

Muriel Rukeyser

“Something like light stands up and is alive”. That hits me in the chest. “Something like wave after wave/ that breaks on a beach” – do you feel that?! This is something inexplicable, and yet, she has said it. She has shown us something we didn’t know we knew. This is exactly the kind of thing that makes me think poetry is one of the highest arts. The art we all find within ourselves, and can carry anywhere – into any circumstance. We don’t have to lug a frame into a landscape, or carry a sculpture into a battle, no, but we carry poems in our minds. Whole worlds open, anywhere, anytime. And this is the work of the poet. Rukeyser makes it sound like magic, but it is hard, hard work. “Streaming out of the body in waves”? Not bloody likely! If only. Oh, if only.