Is this a poem?
Just because I say it is?
Or does it require more
alliteration and anomalies,
perhaps, or striking metaphors
reduced into a pithy phrase,
a life caught out in shadows,
living more than mere mortality?
We can construct or deconstruct
the signifiers, break down meaning
into succinct lines that chime
with worthy experience;
a discourse fragile as a flower,
blown to the weary winds, so desperate
to be popular it loses itself completely.
Is it still a poem if it sits here, waiting,
for you to imbibe it with some sense
or significance? If you skip these lines,
does it lose its wild potential?
Or does it still need old fashioned rhyme
for you to really tell the correct time,
or is that just another modern crime?
Bound intrinsically to the constructs of culture,
if we follow them or frantically break free,
we are still bound by all conventions, all rules
of punctuation, words and grammar, ties that bind –
perhaps you ask the wrong question?
Perhaps you should actually just ask:
Is this a li(f)e?
Or does it require more
alliteration and anomalies,
perhaps, or striking metaphors
reduced into a pithy phrase,
a life caught out in shadows,
living more than mere mortality?
We can construct or deconstruct
the signifiers, break down meaning
into succinct lines that chime
with worthy experience;
a discourse fragile as a flower,
blown to the weary winds, so desperate
to be popular it loses itself completely.
Is it still a poem if it sits here, waiting,
for you to imbibe it with some sense
or significance? If you skip these lines,
does it lose its wild potential?
Or does it still need old fashioned rhyme
for you to really tell the correct time,
or is that just another modern crime?
Bound intrinsically to the constructs of culture,
if we follow them or frantically break free,
we are still bound by all conventions, all rules
of punctuation, words and grammar, ties that bind –
perhaps you ask the wrong question?
Perhaps you should actually just ask:
Is this a li(f)e?
This poem is copyright (©) Peter Devonald 2024
About the Writer
Peter Devonald
Peter lives in Manchester UK where he contributes to Stockport/ Manchester Post, Culture Supplement and poet in residence Haus-a-rest. Winner Waltham Forest Poetry 2022, Heart Of Heatons Poetry 2023 & 2021, joint winner FofHCS Poetry Award 2023, Forward Prize nomination 2023 and two Best Of The Net nominations 2024. Widely published and anthologised. Won 50+ film awards, former senior judge/ mentor Peter Ustinov Awards (iemmys) and Children’s Bafta nominated. www.scriptfirst.com