You are the surf that rises
to the bright crest of the day,
the shell road at low tide
and the moon above the bay. Continue reading “The Bright Crest”
Tag: poems
18 Altered Thoughts on the 18th
With apologies (somewhat) to the poets:
1. “Poetry is not a turning loose of emotion but an escape from emotion” that helps you become a dried-up, humorless man. (Eliot)
2. “Poetry is the rhythmical creation of beauty in words” about rotting corpses. (Poe)
3. Poetry “takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility,” made possible by your sister cooking, cleaning, and editing for you. (Wordsworth) Continue reading “18 Altered Thoughts on the 18th”
In Okemah on Saturday
David Amram on the piano
Behind the Woody poets
As they spoke
Music curling around
Every block as
You walked Okemah
Queen of Okemah
In the BBQ place
Demanding ribs sold out Continue reading “In Okemah on Saturday”
Cora the Couplet Crocodile
“The time is out of joint, O cursed spite
That ever I was born to set it right!”
Hamlet’s couplet is a famous one. Who can resist the pithiness, the efficiency, the rhythm and reason of two short rhyming lines?
Cora the Couplet Crocodile can’t. Continue reading “Cora the Couplet Crocodile”
I Went Out to Play
“The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play instinct acting from inner necessity. The creative mind plays with objects it loves.”
Carl Jung’s words illustrate the importance of play in our lives. From it come the things that make our lives worth living: the art, the dreams, the visions, the connections, the experiences that bring us joy and heartache and shape the people we become.
I have fond memories of the play that took up so much of my childhood. We did not have structured play time, rarely went to camp or to parks or recreational areas, yet I never felt as if I were missing anything. We had the whole world to explore—through riding bikes to the creek or just around the neighborhood, listening to records, exploring the woods behind the house, making tents out of blankets thrown over the clothesline, reading books on the cool concrete of the hillside cellar roof. Continue reading “I Went Out to Play”
Summer at the Museum
Yes, I know it is not summer yet, but it might as well be. I have finished with the Autograph Book Poetry Exhibit, and I took the time to take a bunch of photos. If you haven’t been out in a while, much has changed in the little red shed. Come out and see.
In the meantime, peruse the slide show of photos taken today. And let them inspire a little poetry in ya.
–Shaun Perkins
Rural Oklahoma Museum of Poetry 