Thursday, May 24, 2007

Poetry Thursday--a poem in dialogue

I have to admit I like these prompts. It is like taking a class with no precise hours, no exams or grades and you don’t have to do the homework unless you feel like it. It’s pass-fail without the fail.
Today’s prompt is to write a poem in dialogue. In the past I would have run away from this one but I’m getting more daring the more I do this. I wasn’t aware of this format until recently I discovered a poem in dialogue in Meadowlands, by Louise Gluck. The dialogue took me unawares: no quotation marks. It took me a while to feel appreciative but I found that it works as poetry, at least in her hands.
Here is an excerpt from The Wish:

Remember that time you made the wish?

I make a lot of wishes.

The time I lied to you
about the butterfly. I always wondered
what you wished for.

What do you think I wished?


I’m not printing the end of the poem because I believe it pushes the edge on copyright law. But you get the idea.

I ‘m going to borrow Gluck’s format for my poem which is a dialogue with myself. Talking with myself is something I do far too often.

Poetry

So, don’t you feel a little silly,
Doing all this poetry stuff?

Yes, it’s not what I intended.
I’m a prosaic sort. No imagination,
I guess.

If it doesn’t engage the real-life senses it isn’t real?

Sometimes it seems like that.

Isn’t poetry a sort of adolescent journaling
You should have outgrown by now?

Yes. Like love letters and mooning
Over a favorite teacher.

Then why do you do it?

To dance with words, each line a pirouette or plie
My body could never accomplish.
But my mind can.

Won’t they laugh?

Not if I don’t tell them.

8 comments:

Kathe said...

This is great, S! I especially love the "To dance with words..." part.

paris parfait said...

I like the idea of your mind accomplishing what your body can't. Well done.

Regina said...

Oh, Sarala... just lovely. I love how you answer yourself as to why you do it... it is a dance, isn't it?
Thanks...

p said...

I like this. Made me feel like I was watching a movie and the character was having a dialogue in her head that only the audience knows of. good stuff!

gautami tripathy said...

"Yes. Like love letters and mooning
Over a favorite teacher."

That sounds so familiar..me as a student and now me as a teacher..

Crafty Green Poet said...

Yes, poetry is dancing with words! Nice dialogue!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for stopping by and commenting. I think poetry is best barometer of the soul's growth, so says me. :)

Great poem, thanks for telling us anyway.

Rose

xo

bookbinds said...

Lovely poem, I can completely picture this inner dialogue in my head. I am also a big fan of Gluck.