Blank Page
The allure of a blank page--
my fingers twitching with desire
to sully the sheer whiteness,
to impose my will upon its untarnished purity.
I want my words to rain there,
Rivulets of phrases dripping,
dropping down the white sheen
in even rhythm,
thoughts contained
by faint blue lines,
college-ruled.
I want to scrawl thoughts,
make them real by
transcribing that which is trapped
in my head,
swirling--
slipping from idea
into words,
no longer defying expression.
I want to triumph over
this blank page--
declaring it as mine
the way bold explorers claimed
the New World
centuries ago.
Copyright 2010 by Susanne Barrett
1 comment:
Oh goodness, I love the idea of using NaNoWriMo for poetry. Why did that never occur to me before?
This poem reminds me of Annie Dillard in the Writing Life. She says "The blank page will teach us to write." I love that.
Also, I appreciate the explorer metaphor in the final stanza. That reminded me of Keats On First Looking Into Chapman's Homer, where he compares the act of reading as if he is being led by an explorer into the New World. Great stuff!
(And belated welcome to the High Calling network!)
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