Excerpts from essay How Does a Poem Mean? by John Ciardi
In This Romance of Imminence
The art of hold-let-go
Becomes a dance twixt heart and hands
That leaves us winded, oh
The ballroom floor becomes a door
The door, a skiff of mist
Where legs and arms askew with charms
Are vexed with treks half-kissed
The ashes of fond yester-love
Lay mute in Bygone’s Urn
Time’s tinseled jar of Where We Are
Pours out More No Return
And we are glad for what we had
Yet hunger for the sky
Where Imminence, Deliverance
And Remembrance ally
Thus, Poet strives to preserve lives
And loves and days and years
With brush of pen to touch again
The When that disappears
© Janet Martin
Wonderful Word Wizardry of a poet.
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