Poetic Subtraction

Photo by Ashley Goad

She objected, "I don't know how

to sit down and create poetry."

   I replied, “Neither do I.

   I'm not even sure that's possible.”

      Poetry is all around us,

      all the time. It's the proverbial

      sculpture hidden within the stone.

   Finding our inner poet

   is about learning to chip-away

   at the things in our lives obscuring her.

First, there's what I call noise;

the other voices that tell you

you're already too far behind

in all the things you need

to accomplish and do

to even consider investing time,

space, and energy into something

as unpredictable, unreliable, and

maybe even unproductive as poetry.

   But maybe you also need

   to hear the whisper that asks you

   to consider whether

   you might be even further behind

   in what you were created to BE.

© 2016 Todd Jenkins