I Am a Poet

A poem about writing poetry.

Words are not a rhyme,

Not a poem. not a song,

Not wisdom.

My thoughts are the waters

That drench the land of my soul.

My words flow, swim, trickle.

And evolve through the rain.

They sprinkle, drizzle,

And freeze in my head or

On my tongue.

I rhyme, I meter, I beat my drum.

I verse, I limerick; I sonnet.

Let us haiku through rivers

To uncharted lands of ideas

Unstored, untraveled, unsung.

Explore the lands of forgotten days.

Fire up your warriors for battle.

Bring tears to the eyes of your lonely,

And kisses to the lips of lovers.

Let your tongue twisters alliterate�"

Obliterate the sensible languages of professors

And make the games of children.

Words feed the cultures of the masses.

They strike the heartstrings in a few.

Without them I would not survive

But with them I thrive abundantly,

And pass them on to you.

Author's Note

Written in 1997.

Reviews

[jacob erin-cilberto]

i, like you, would not have survived without poetry...it is my life's blood...i feel more like a conduit for the muse than a real poet...the words seem to flow through me without much direction from me...
i can't take much responsibility...
but as Melanie sang...." i am not a poet, living is the poem"
i think that is true....but yes, there are those who write poetry from time to time...and those who are poets because they never stop...
and you also hit on the fact there are so many forms...when i define poetry i do as so: Poetry is not Prose...
there are 20 page poems...then there are poems like a colleague of mine made up once..."butterfly flutter by..."
even graffiti is poetry in its own "write"--
such an expansive and wonderful genre.
i love your description here.
j.

[Wanda Vergara-Yates]

Thank you for such kind words.

[Richard🖌]

Hi, Wanda,

This is my first visit to, your pages. : )
How exciting and arousing to one senses to read your insightfully varied and interesting take on poetry.
"My words flow, swim, trickle.
And evolve through the rain."

I see this not so much a poem as a commentary; yet, a deeply insightful and moving piece to ponder.
Bless you for sharing your writing skill with us! ⁓ Richard 🍃

[Wanda Vergara-Yates]

Aww, thank you! Originally, my goal in writing was to start a "round robin" within the poetry group I was a member of. That does not exactly work when you say everything that could be said - plus the length thing - . . . . at least they claimed I had already said everything and nothing could be added. Surely that was not true.

[Chris Shaw]

You are indeed a poet. It takes one to recognise another. I like very much the thoughts that you have sprinkled here at my feet. Words are everything to me.

Chris

[Wanda Vergara-Yates]

You truly humble me. Thank you. Since I really need to improve my non-poetic repertoire, I've just posted a couple things of prose also. And of course, another poem. I'm gonna go catch my breath now.

[Relic]

These are nice descriptions of poetry. Words not only describe the things around us, the things we're experiencing, or things from our imagination, they describe us. How we're able to put forth our ideas in a way that stands out or the lack thereof.

Welcome to the site. It's nice to have you here. :)

[Wanda Vergara-Yates]

Thank you very much. I am glad to be here.

[Relic]

Is there a way you could describe the meter or rhythm in this?

[Wanda Vergara-Yates]

Freeverse? It reminds me of the way Psalms are read - rhythmic in their way, but no set rhythm per se. I have a lot of poetry like this. I also have a good portion of metrical rhyme. For me, the meter and rhyme are mere style. What makes it "poetry" is the living essence that jumps off the page and grabs readers inside their own voice. I believe the heart of a poet is the lifeblood. The head of the poet merely takes the words and puts them in order so readers can understand. What ya think?

[Relic]

Okay, I'll go with that. :)

[Sami Khalil]

If you write like this, which is so good, you should add more work here so we can enjoy it. I noticed only one poem. Written long ago, it is still very relevant.

[Wanda Vergara-Yates]

Aww shucks! Now I'm blushing. Thank you for your kinds words. It is true - been quite a minute since I have written anything besides business content and a few how to bits. I promise to post a little bit from each genre in which I write. Poetry is my strongest. I also need to build up enough material for a decent size chapbook.

[Sami Khalil]

Wow! All wonderful. You are welcome....

[Sami Khalil]

"My thoughts are the waters

That drench the land of my soul.

My words flow, swim, trickle.

And evolve through the rain."

[Sami Khalil]

"To uncharted lands of ideas

Unstored, untraveled, unsung.

Explore the lands of forgotten days."

Fire up your warriors for battle.