The Wordsmith

Just a concept piece that hit me after being told the "difference" between rappers and poets. I say a wordsmith is a wordsmith.

dipping raw thought
into the molten secretions
of poignant emotion

a hammer of
swirling adjectives and nouns
flatten rigid concepts

cooling waters of clarity
settle impassioned heat
aiding constructive manipulations

metaphorical resilience
provides a hilt, safeguarding
ink stained hands from attack

the refined cloth of structure
rubs away grime
polishing a sword made of ink

and such is the intricate process of the wordsmith
may every thought forged be a benefit to the craft

Author's Note

Just clearing my notebook of semifinished projects, this was one of them. As always, your honest thoughts are welcome.

Reviews

[jacob erin-cilberto]

this one is on fire...as are you with your words...
"what furnace is thy brain" according to William Blake.

and i agree poets are poets...whether with poetry, rap, anything that is written that is not prose.

Have you ever seen Eddie and the Cruisers?
and the one character played by Tom Berringer? Wordman---
he was needed for the songs to work...Eddie Wilson put the compositions together, but he needed Wordman for the lyrics.

j.

[Travis Gibson (poetic heroics)]

I haven't seen that as of yet, but it just made the top of my watch list!

[Crowley]

I'd say you are right. If you look at bards in the renaissance they were in fact lyrical poets and much of what they sang was just as much poetry as poetry. There will be some that argue that it depends on form and format, but words written to evoke emotion or express the human condition are poetry in my book. Great piece of poetry.

[Travis Gibson (poetic heroics)]

I completely concur, we can not fence in expression. An artist is defined by his intent, not necessarily his delivery. Most poetry has some measure of rhythm... even prose, should be written in such a way that if said aloud it possesses lyrical sensibility. Rappers merely tend to build a foundation from a beat. There are great rappers, and not so great rappers... I would never go as far to say there is a drastic difference. Hence, a wordsmith is a wordsmith... our business is words. Thank you for the in depth and sincere response.