There Is No "I" In Poetry

True there is no “I” in poetry
But there is heart.
There are souls
From time immemorial
With secrets yet to share,
Seductions to be finished
And tears yet to shed.

All of our souls and dreams,
Our entire collective unconscious
Drawn like beads on a tight string
Along the necklace of words.

There is Handsome Johnny and Joe Hill
All those heroes who never died,
All those who never survived
All those we never knew

There are cars we never drove,
Flights we never took
Oceans we never swam in

All the faces we never met and
There is You, and all the girls
On the corner under the streetlight
Watching all the boys
And the parents stressed beyond measure,

There are roses and a
Kiss for when the thorns prick,
And there is then
And there is now
And what if,
What, why, when, where,  who
And again, there is You
And there is us
And there is I,
So maybe there is an “I” in poetry after all. 

Reviews

[Terpsichore]

And so many poems still to be written; shame that our three score year and ten is but the blink of an eye.

A perfect encapsulation.

T

[katie]

You have captured everything poetry is. Incredible piece! Beautifully written as always!

[Kelly Scheppers]

You are a poet of many hats, Dan. You always get the wheels turning!

[jacob erin-cilberto]

this incorporates about everything that poetry is, and is about.

and yes there is an "I" in the end...but in the end to me it is a lower case "i"
because the i is not nearly as important as all the rest.

well done, dan.

[daninstockholm]

Hmm,, you're probably right about the "I", perhaps it should be lowercase. At any rate. thank you so kindly. I appreciate your words very much!

[David Scott]

Yes, there is an "I", but with poetry it never stands alone...
A sensitive and touching write. Sure to be felt and understood by our poetic community here.

[daninstockholm]

Thank you David. You're very kind.

[Great Aunt Astri]

Well done! This is, in my humble opinion, a very good poem.

[daninstockholm]

i apologize for taking so long to respond. Thank you so very much for your kind words. I truly appreciate it!!