I am David Harrison, winner of the 7th poet of Missouri. I live with my wife, Sandy, in Springfield, where I am pleased to welcome “the poetry of daily life”. Since the start of the chronicle in November 2023, an increasing number of wonderfully talented guests in all of America and beyond have added their prospects to the conversation. The today’s chronicle marks the 82nd consecutive weekly edition of the series, archived by our sponsor, the leader of Springfield News. Together, we make a unique collection of ideas, advice, stories and poems. I am grateful to everyone for reading what we have to offer and I hope you will continue to share the columns so that others can enjoy them.
Instantaneous life
The poems are multiplemented things. What poetry is does not matter as much as it does. Expectations and perceptions differ from one reader to another, from need.
I recently talked to a university poetry course and I read some poems written for young readers. One spoke of a child on a swing, listening to his grandfather talking about the old country. Another spoke of a crow to have a moving song of a dead tree in Alaska. A third concerned an old woman in a village in the Amazon river.
Face of the Amazon
She stands next to the path, have looked
Relying on a twisted cane,
Rest there to catch your breath
Watch the children play.
∘
She nods and smiles
as in this place
Once she was hunted.
∘
His face, mahogany
finely sculpted, deeply grained,
polished harshly by the sun and the rain,
A portrait of the Amazon.
∘
After the other memories, fades,
His human face remains,
Any woman anywhere,
Watch the children play.
◆ Employment
A student worried in the group raised his hand. “These poems …” he said, “are quite simple. They only concern one subject …”
I agree with him. “These are instant poems,” I told him. “These are glimpses of life to save and reappear. Just as we keep photo albums to review the favorite moments, we often write poems as reminders of what we don’t want to forget.”
Certainly, some poems are dense with layers of meaning and references known to some learned readers. Some scream in anxiety. Some shake the fists and demand that we do something! But most of the time, we just write about something we have seen or done or that we know or that we have known that seems to be worth a poem without a agenda to change the world. Poets love to quote the poem of Billy Collins, “Introduction to poetry”, about those who insist to link a poem to a chair with a rope and beat it with a pipe to discover what it really means.
Twenty-five years ago, a waitress named Patsy worked in a restaurant where I liked to eat. She was professional at work, has always obtained your order well and rendered effective service. You had a little little Patsy conversation, but it provided a tip that little could match. During the coffee pour, it started at the edge of the cup, then lifted the pot on a foot above the table while the hot liquid flow moved just below the edge. Without a word, she would go in search of other empty cups. Two weeks ago, I thought of Patsy and I wrote a poem impulsively about it. I teased my readers with the double title heard, then I gave them an instant poem on a busy waitress having fun at work.
How this woman filled her cups
She filled her cups just short of overflow,
jar touching the lip of each,
rising with a column of browns that flourishes
seeming to disappear in white porcelain,
Let’s go to other tables,
A woman offering full cups
Without reverse a hot fall.
◆ Employment
Is everything? Yeah. Unless you want to do more. Perhaps write to legions of men and women from around the world serving hungry customers – young people at school, retired retirees in search of boredom relief, those who have chosen a life of waiting tables as their call. Much to think. A lot to write. Enough to fill out an instant album? It depends on the poet, the reader and the need. No rope required.
David L Harrison is also a winning poet of Drury University. He published more than 100 books of poems, stories, non-fiction and books for teachers who received a long list of awards. To find out more, visit your website at https://davidlharrison.com/.