A Poem a Day, Every Day for a Month: Day #1: Love Is Everywhere
#1
love is everywhere
drifting through the galaxies
nets still wet
A translucent visitor
wrapped in newspaper
In the rush of water
In laughter
in bones and blood
in assembly languages
1 billion years in the making
in the spaces
between us
love is everywhere
Commentary
When I don’t know where to begin, I often start with found phrases. I pulled a bunch of poetry books off my bookshelf and noted lines or phrases I liked, and used them to collage a new poem.
The Romans called this a Cento or what we would today call a “found” poem.
Romans believed that poetry comes from other poems there was no dis-honor in beginning with the words of other poets.
What makes the poem mine is the choice of what phrases to put together. Also, I changed some of the phrases to make them fit together. As with other kinds of collage, art is found in the collection and rearrangement, and new contextualization of something used to be part of something else.
Writing a poem for me is always intimidating. I find it useful to begin by borrowing images and words that strike me. The impulse of poetry begins, in my estimation with an attention to words and images, their sounds and rhythms, their power to excite something within you. Poetry is tuning your self to the sensuous power of words. It is an invitation to enter into an erotic relationship with the language you speak.
