The doubt of future woes exiles my present pain,
my wit, it warns me, “Mind the sorrows everyone again
employs as if despair, despair, despair,
brought truth unquestioned, unrestrained. I do declare
that sorrows left within the void without
the context brought by joy, the cultured route
of pain-then-pleasure-ever-after, brings
not truth, but lies — not laughter, life but, like kings
who live by swords then end in bladed, death.”
I take the words of wit inside, breathing breath
that blew from winded wind that blew from wind
from God, reminded sighs, tornadoes, twisters,
whispers, mothered puffs that cool down blisters,
come one, come all from breath inside my lungs
that comes from breath outside my lungs, as in tongues
divine that started language, gave me mine.
I doubt most woes that do not quick reassign
our light and momentary troubled strife
to bow toward coming glory, love, and the life.
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For newcomers — a note on 50 @ 25:
Once upon a time, I read that the perfect age for writing quality poetry is twenty-three. Apparently most of T.S. Elliot’s stuff came out then, the rest of his work being supposedly non-poetic. This resulted in 46 poems written at 23.
These poems came out exponentially faster and faster before my 24th birthday on April 30th – and I had to write in genres spanning from epic ballads to limericks to get 46 in on time. I guess that means, for better or worse, that’s the best poetry I’ll ever write. Sad day.
Who was I kidding?
Milton was blind and old—oooooold—when he publishedParadise Regained. Emily Dickenson was dead when her stuff came out. My favorite stuff from T.S. Elliot came out after his conversion. So yeah, old age is good for poetry too. Look at Burns and Berry.
(Side note: the name “Berry Burns” sounds like a shady car salesman).
Will I keep up this twice-my-age regimen every few years? Who knows, but this year, here’s to 50 poems at 25 to be written exponentially faster until I turn 26 on April Thirtyish. I do it this the second time around as a way to say: “Here’s to living life well before it’s too late.”
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