Neil Mcleod Poet Quatrain

Is That a Poem You'Re Writing

I
Is that a poem you’re writing?
Do you know what you want to convey? 
Have you set your ideas in a list with their peers
Ready to scribble away?

		II
Is that a poem you’re writing?
Have you chosen your meter and rhyme?
Have you got the knack of trying to pack 
The words in and make them keep time?

		 III
Is that a poem you’re writing?
Your pen poised over the page,
Praying that Calliope enters your muse as she
Has done with poets for an age.
		IV
Is that a poem you’re writing?
Has God above roused you to thought?
Like King David at arms when he wrote his Psalms
Inspired but never taught.

		V
It that a poem you’re writing?
Will the tale you scribe live on?
In Bardic tradition an epic rendition,
For centuries pondered upon.

		 VI
Is that a poem you’re writing?
Will words give your notions flight,
Or stay on the page, like Gibran’s “in a cage”,
Only revealed to sight?

		VII
Is that a poem you’re writing? 
Are you just going to let the words fly?
And leave the verse blank, like grass on the bank
Of the river ungroomed flowing by?

		VIII
Is that a poem you’re writing?
Is sorrow or passion your whim?
Like me has desire ignited a fire 	
That bursts from the soul within?

		 IX
Is that a poem you’re writing?
Is the language you use esoteric? 
Do elaborate words fall meaning nothing at all,
From your pen, but having no merit?

		X
Is that a poem that you’re writing
Do you think that you’re a real poet?
Do you think ’cause a line, came out of your mind
It’s a poem and others won’t know it?


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Darlene Gifford August 16, 2015 at 8:27 PM Hi, Neil, good advice for newbies. You're right, a poem has to burst like fire from the soul within. Otherwise toss it in the trash and start over. ~~Darlene Neil Mcleod August 16, 2015 at 11:05 PM I love that you find this identification with my poem. Thank you! Please do read more of my work. Thank you. Dr Neil

Darlene Gifford August 16, 2015 at 8:25 PM Hi, Neil, good advice for newbies. You're right, a poem has to burst like fire from the soul within. Otherwise toss it in the trash and start over. ~~Darlene Darlene Gifford August 17, 2015 at 1:31 AM Sorry, Dr. Neil, about the double post. I got an error message, so I put in the other numbers and posted again. Then it gave me two comments. But I will take that as an indication that I liked your poem twice as much. ~~Darlene P.S. I hope you read me as well. Neil Mcleod August 16, 2015 at 11:05 PM Thank you again Darlene!