Forest walkabout.
Slowly saunter, savor pine scent
see sun-lattice pattern through breeze blown leaves,
feel rock-strewn ground beneath your feet.
Find toadstool mushrooms
nestled in myriad shades of green.
Hear birds cackle, warble,
cry monosyllabic shrieks.
Or just get through.
Enter to exit the other side.
Rush from point A to B or G.
Been there but never saw.
Word forest, thy name is Poetry.
Slowly saunter through words
letters arranged, thought path on a page.
Smell rain. Picture grey clouds shifting,
sun blocked above the trees.
Hear rhythmic patterns,
singing sounds, harsh plosives,
hissing sibilants, warbling vowels.
Or just get through.
Enter to exit the other side.
Scan from point A to B or G.
Read that but never saw.
Written for dVerse where Paul asks us to consider Ars Poetica: a term meaning “the art of poetry. ” An Ars Poetica poem expresses the poet’s aims for poetry and/or the poet’s theories about poetry. Also used for Day 12 Napowrimo. Photo taken in Ireland last year.
lillian the home poet 
I love all of this but my most favorite line- “Slowly saunter through words
letters arranged, thought path on a page.” Beautiful!
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Thank you. I guess I took a different bent here…not so much on the writing as on the reading. For all who write, I think, must also read. 🙂
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Yes, to be sure.
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I like this bit best- Hear rhythmic patterns,
singing sounds, harsh plosives,
hissing sibilants, warbling vowels.
Or just get through…… I guess we are like artists or chefs, we have a way of fashioning our words to make them into a worthy dish.
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Thanks for this response Alison…and love that idea of us making a worthy dish! 🙂 We stir up the words, emotions, images, etc into a frothy soufflé! 🙂
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Love the forest walkabout – the greenery, fresh scents, birds. Then the smooth transition to the word forest, with superb sounds:
Hear rhythmic patterns,
singing sounds, harsh plosives,
hissing sibilants, warbling vowels.
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Thanks, Grace. I was a bit mystified by the prompt and somehow this “skittered out” — using the verb someone else mentioned at the end of their Ars Poetica 🙂 Glad you enjoyed.
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I like the description of “word forests” and “thought paths”. It seems I am ever wandering down one of those.
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Me too! And sometimes I have to do a U-turn! 🙂
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I’m with Frank. The concept of a word forest is superb, spilling the sights and sounds of the natural world for us poets to sing with. Fabulous.
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Thanks, Paul. Glad you enjoyed….and happy I was to set up the bar tonight…I kept the lights bright and put tulips out too 🙂
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First of all, Lill, the forest in the photo is SO GREEN! It is beautiful!
Now to the poem…
I enjoyed the walk through the forest with you,
it’s something I really love to do.
Some phrases and lines that grabbed me were:
‘sun-lattice pattern through breeze blown leaves’;
‘Smell rain. Picture grey clouds shifting’
and
‘Hear rhythmic patterns,
singing sounds, harsh plosives,
hissing sibilants, warbling vowels’.
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Glad you enjoyed, Kim. And it really looked that green too — no photo shop….but maybe that’s because it was in Ireland? 🙂
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🙂
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The repetition gives this a haunting feel, and it feels like a charge to bring the pace down and imbibe the forest of the poet within. Beautiful!
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Glad you liked it….a fun one to write.
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Oh this one is LOVELY and the comparison is so very apt. Word forests, with arranged letters, and thought paths, and rhythm patterns. I love this!
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Poetry a word forest…I like that… sometimes we walk through and get inspired,,,,other times we carve out those words to build a cathedral of poetics.
Dwight
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“Word forest, thy name is Poetry” — so excellent!
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‘thought line on a page’ – what an absolutely wonderful line in a terrific poem!
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PoeTrY NeVE ReaD unTiL
AFTeR SPoKE WHeeLS
RoLLeD iNoW
WeLLSPoKeN
HigHMounTaiN
SNoW DanCeS
SonG WiTHouT SPeaK..:)
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Pine forest / word forest. The lovely silence, whispered hush where life happens on so many levels. This pulled at me. You took me back to a stand of reverent pines in Black Forest, Colorado where a mighty Muse spoke me to my knees. Much here to read… and reread.
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A walk through the forest- carried by your words as I “Slowly saunter through words”. Love it!
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thought path on a page!! my favorite part of the poem i think.. but loved it all
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Nature gives me many ideas for poems. I like the comparison to poetry!
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