JENNIFER GURNEY

Meeting A Poem

 

If a poem came to life

What would it be like if they knocked on my door

One morning out of the blue

I could simply open the door to something fantastic

 

I wonder if I’d recognize

One of my poems in human form

Or maybe it would be that nagging

I-know-I-know-you-from-somewhere feeling

 

What if a poem came walking down my stairs

In the middle of the day

Startling me because I live alone –

But don’t let my cats know that I said that –

And sat down for a cup of tea and a game of Scrabble

 

Or better yet, a beer on the patio

Right at that juncture between dusk and night time

In the magic of the gloaming when anything is possible

When fireflies come out and the air feels soft

And dreaming is easier

 

But please if I am going to meet one of my poems

Let it be a gentle one or a funny one

And not a sad, melancholy

Processing-all-this-grief-that-is-too-much-for-one-human-heart poem

I’ve already had enough of that

 

Let it be an uplifting one

So that there is lightness and hopefulness

And that diaphanous feeling of a dragonfly’s wings

Or a lace-curtain gently wafting in the breeze

Or the softness of rose petals

As violin bow strings play my heartstrings

 

That’s the poem I want to meet