Friday, March 14, 2008

POETRY FRIDAY: When I Am Asked

Has anyone ever asked you when or how or why you began writing poetry? Lisel Mueller provides us with her reason for writing.


When I Am Asked
by Lisel Mueller

When I am asked
how I began writing poems,
I talk about the indifference of nature.

It was soon after my mother died,
a brilliant June day,
everything blooming.

I sat on a gray stone bench
in a lovingly planted garden,
but the day lilies were as deaf
as the ears of drunken sleepers
and the roses curved inward.

You can read the rest of the poem here.


At Wild Rose Reader, I have an original spring acrostic poem and some suggestions for spring and seasonal poetry books and picture books in verse.

The Poetry Friday Roundup is at Jama Rattigan’s Alphabet Soup.

3 comments:

laurasalas said...

I love this, Elaine. Especially:

in the mouth of language,
the only thing that would grieve with me.

Elaine Magliaro said...

Laura,

I agree. Mueller captured in words a feeling I've experienced when I've lost someone who is close to me. I wish I could use words as she did to express myself at such times--but I'm not good at writing that kind of poetry. I'll stick to writing poetry for kids.

tanita✿davis said...

trés beau:
and placed my grief
in the mouth of language,


How lovely, lovely, lovely. This is so expressive of reality -- it always annoys me that it doesn't rain when I need it to, that days of great grief aren't expressed in nature. But nature is, indeed, indifferent... thanks for this.