A True Poet

A poet worth his salt is one that feels
each vowel he is tossing in the air;
And poetry's the altar where he kneels
to thank the Almighty in a fervent prayer.

He works as hard as fifty slaves combined
to make his poems loved and understood
while striving for the worthy and refined,
he puts to verse his ever-racing moods.

The sleepless nights, the crumpled sheets, the fire
of his impassioned soul, to serve his Queen.
The goddess Poetry, his one desire,
for her he would be faceless and unseen.

At sea, at home, while strolling at the beach,
the rhyming harmony torments his soul.
His muse and quill are never out of reach
enduring passion steals his self-control.

Oh, what a bliss, to live in your embrace,
the nymph of rhyme, the fairy of the verse.
Urban sprawl, a bard's immune to space.
Atlantis, his poetic universe.

His stalks his Muse, and she, a grateful slave
to stirrings of his soul, a mother hen.
She waits on him, while he, ungrateful knave,
barrages her in his concocted glen.

A true poetic soul will never ask
for olive laurels it did not deserve.
A humble pilgrim, in a nameless mask
poetic spirit's born to woe and serve.

Through the centuries, the poets write 
to bring across their effervescent light.
Copyright © | Year Posted 2026

Poem

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Gibbons Avatar
June 28, 2026 at 6:45 AM
Wonderful creation here Ron. I agree with every word in Natasha comment. Happy creating more gems for your readers to read. :)
VanHooser Avatar
June 28, 2026 at 2:33 PM
Thanks Dorothy, I do put myself into every poem. I tend to have "writing fits" where I go off to a hotel, away from distractions, put on some soft Native American flute music, and sit with a keyboard on my lap, eyes closed and just let whatever is inside flow. (I don't use a pen, making my atrocious handwriting readable spoils the creative process.) Thank you for your kind words and for taking the time to read my poems. Ron
Smith  Avatar
June 27, 2026 at 7:03 PM
So wrote a true poet.
VanHooser Avatar
June 28, 2026 at 2:28 PM
Alison, you could not have given me a greater compliment than that. Thank you! Ron
Scragg Avatar
June 27, 2026 at 6:55 PM
It is clear that you pour yourself in to every poem you write. I've read quite a few of your poems now and every one of them makes the reader feel something. And you can't achieve that if you don't "feel each vowel" you "toss in the air". Feeling the works we read makes them addictive. And any "poet worth their salt" wants their reader to be emotionally involved as well as reading. Another brilliant piece.
VanHooser Avatar
June 28, 2026 at 2:27 PM
Thank you for your kind words, Natasha. We write poetry for ourselves, but not just for ourselves, we write for our audience as well, wanting the reader to feel what we feel when we write, and that is no easy task for it means putting our heart and soul out for others to see, hoping they will touch one, or many. Some do and the feeling is exhilarating; some don't and we look at that poem wondering what wasn't there that the audience needed. This happened to be one of those that worked, many don't. Thank you for your comments. (the flattery didn't hurt my ego any either! LOL) Ron
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