POET IDENTITY - Sally Eslinger's Blog

Probably will also put up as a prose poem on my

Poet Identity

In conversations,
In biographies,
In resumes…all poets are writers,
    but not all writers are poets.
On a careful look into the mirror, when not looking
    for wrinkles, but staring deep into the reflected  
   Image as if it were a stranger’s face,
And the stranger might hold
    “those” secrets, the secrets of life 
    Unknown to us…

Might identity be seen in the vibrant iris?  Colorful…. 
    the place of treasured revealing,
    thought a doorway to  identity of an individual…

A poet, a poet truly,
Perhaps from birth,
As willed, as created, as endowed, born
    perhaps with
    some more easily noted characteristics
     like having brown eyes; good arches for ballet;
     an aptitude for languages; a heart filled with
     compassion; and a lovely singing voice.
Such traits contribute to the identity of a 
Poet, too, but especially,a poet will have a prevalent
 Ache — from needing to communicate 
    the messages, visions, memories, feelings,
    witticisms, stories, and more.  

The poets write, speak, sing, compose
Holding a “child’s “senses of wonder and  
    delight” — which may puzzle or annoy others;
Holding a drive to answer that distinct
    calling of the Inner Voice;
Holding the soul, the seeking and touching God,
The awe-worthy source of Creating
    — ideal to many poets, living so
    close to definitions, perceptions, feelings, 
    and seeing underlying currents;
Holding a respect and fascination for words, their
   combining, their potential, their rhythms, 
    their music;
Holding the history of poetry, to continue on from 
    past generations: with the drive  for self-
    expression, as if writing those poems of  
    excellence
Will place our handprints on a Lascaux cave wall   
    beside our Paleolithic cousins;
Holding a bond with trees, flowers, seas,
     the moon and stars (the dear stars!),
      In identifying with and loving Nature;
Holding the All as  precious, with an exchange of
    cues of illumination in a dance
    with the collective sub-conscious;
Holding the presence and mysteries of 
     inspiration, and purpose, as might be seen in a       
     corollary drawn between poets and bees.  The
     bee who pollinates the apple tree then return to 
     the colony to further
     the process of  making  honey, which helps to  
     feed the world.
As poets work to communicate 
With readers and listeners,
Their translations of life
    in the penning and speaking, reaching,
Singing abroad the Inner Voice
To the community, then
To venture forth to the 
     still thirsty, still hoping for a word,
Gatherings in the wider, open
 Regions of a blessed humanity,
Working one to all
    over an Earth being re-stored…people
Standing joyful before the heavens
Aiming for accomplishing goals
    of hoped-for excellence,
Of which coming generations of poets
    will speak.
 
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(c)sally young eslinger 12/22
Thanks be to God