My Word Wall
If all you knew of me was my poetry then what would you see?
If we had never met would my words alone let you understand my regret?
And would that be all you’d see, would I seem to you sad and small behind my word wall?
Do I reveal my joy in the verse that I employ or do you find my words simply annoy?
If you knew me in the flesh and personally would you be surprised by my poetry?
My word wall and pen keep you out or let you in depending on the mood I’m in.
Yet always there’s my God, intertwined, some think it odd, without Him I’m a fraud.
But there’s so much more to me that I’ll never let you see despite your solemn plea.
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Decided to write a second poem for today, perhaps because I’m a little sad that NaPoWriMo2016 is coming to an end soon. This is my take on long-line poetry.
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We learn some of each other, but only what we choose to share with our words. Nice take on long line poetry.
Some serious questioning here!
i think this is something we all wonder from time to time. what do people really see and think of us from our writing? how much do we reveal? how much do we conceal? beautifully put.
I really like the concept of a word wall, granting access or blocking the way. It is so true that words do that.
Those “word walls” can be a safe haven or solitary confinement. Glad for doors and windows, which can either expose or conceal. We long to be known yet we need to protect ourselves…I feel a tug in both directions.
A word wall……I love this phrase. The question of what our words reveal — said or written. And whether others can ever really know our true selves. It’s a question of putting a gate on the wall — and letting folks in, right?
I have come to believe in that last few years, very much in faith and angels along the way.
hmmmm maybe when we write a “fictionalized” poem, there are still kernals of ourselves in those words?
Thank you for this post — really made me connect and think about things.
Perhaps poetry is the gate for me. I hadn’t thought of that. 🙂 I like that better than my vision of 4 impenetrable walls, which are more like a prison to keep me in than a room to keep others out.
This wall feels like a museum, with the different stanzas acting as different works of art, requiring that they be appreciated and mulled over on their own as well as part of a larger collection. A nice glimpse into the psyche.
What a nice comment! Thank you.
For some reason, I see the speaker saying these words into a mirror… looking at the self that leaves in the poetry… wondering what she shows to the world.
I think our “word walls” (love that phrase) reveal different things about the different us we are on different days and for different reasons. And like the poem says, there is always the one thing that is always at the core of each poem–for this speaker, her God.
Beautiful form and deliciously thought provoking questions.
I love the visual of looking in a mirror. I suppose in some way that is what I was doing when I wrote this but didn’t realize it.
♥
I think often in the blogosphere people hide behind their words. I like the fact that most of the time in your poems you write REAL. I am not a fan of flowery words that sound beautiful but have no meaning, and I have a difficult time commenting on those poems. I too try to be REAL in my poems much of the time, unless I am simply being playful. (smiles) You have got me philosophizing here. I do think if I knew you in flesh I would not be surprised by your poetry! I do think we could enjoy a good chat over coffee. Smiles.
I think I would like that very much. 🙂
Love this, Linda. I often wonder how much of the “face” that fellow poets see is actually me. I like to think I’m pretty what-you-see-is-what-you-get in all areas of my life, but we all have our masks, I suppose. I lean on my Savior, too, and appreciate that about you – and your beautiful writing.
Thank you for this wonderful encouragement. 🙂
I liked your questioning piece here too, Linda. I think I can express a lot of myself that I wouldn’t otherwise do even with the people closest to me but no not all of me. I think there’s so much of ourselves that we don’t even know. Maybe part of writing is an exercise in self-discovery.
That I can agree with. I’ve learned much about myself from my own writing.
Sometimes I think we use poetry to release parts of ourselves not as easily vocalized in our day to day interactions. I think it is like that for me. On the other hand, there are pieces of me not shared in my poetry. How others perceive each other is something I have always found so interesting…the power of perception whether accurate or not.
I really enjoyed the questions in your poem.
I think it’s what a poet is meant to do, hold back in real life in order to let go in poetry. But it’s always good to keep something back.
Perhaps that’s why I started writing poetry — because it was too exhausting to hold it all back in real life.
I think your poems show just enough
There is so much that we leave hidden within our souls. Beautiful write 🙂
I do recognize that word wall… So many things we don’t say… So many things hidden (veiled).. But we do get glimpses, and that might be more than we get when meeting for real.
I do think that those who read my poetry might know me better than those who never have but see me every day.
I agree. I put a lot of me in my writing but I also withhold much. I am afraid people only see a haiku life of beautiful discipline and nothing unpleasant. Today I got real. It felt good. I often see in your writing your faith, love of your family, love of summer an warmth, your quest for peace.
To me, this speaks of “the mystery of one’s being,” that part of self that no one really knows (except God), not even self. I understand a bit of what you say. Sometimes (often) I’m afraid my poetry only expresses that one small part of me–that part that may seem obsessed with death. But my real obsession is life. Death only serves as a contrast, a highlight. Peace, dear Linda.