Archive
Life is a Leaving
Life is a leaving behind.
It is a forgetting, a struggle
To do something that will last.
As we pass the way, we leave behind
Grandparents and the old home,
Parents and family,
Many friends,
And finally, ourselves.
We leave our body
To be buried by those
Who are busy with
The task of leaving us behind.
Where we go, we leave a mess for
others.
The sculptor leaves a mess
Of fragments and carved stone,
For others to guard,
Until it is completely destroyed.
He leaves books,
For libraries to catalogue,
And zealots to burn.
The poet leaves bridges
To tumble into the sea,
Lessons to fade into vague memories,
A reputation for others to defame.
What lasts is the winds of time,
Blowing fragments
Of what has been left behind;
What has been forgotten.
Fragments of life,
Memories of earlier times,
Until there is no reason
For the winds to blow,
And tumble things unthought of.
Then thought, too, will rest;
And the winds of the universe
Shall die down,
As universe leaves itself behind,
Unable to breathe life
Into anything new.
Hopeless poems left behind by young
men
Are replaced by the quiet hymns of age,
And by a desire to rest.
4-20-94
Erasing
Writing erases things
From your mind;
And places them in the mind
Of the reader.
But writing creates a desire
In the writer
To create more things
Like the ones erased;
So that the writer seeks more
Of what has been discarded.
1-13-94
Poems by Don J Carlson
Poems About Writing and for Writers
Writing Timid Grows to Greatness
Don J Today- Spring 2012
A Failed Line or Two
A line gets ready to go
But
Finds itself
Back at the
Left margin.
D-E-T-E-R-M-I-N-A-T-I-O-N tries
but
Fails to carry it far.
Again, it makes a valiant effort,
redoubled effort,
Fails,
Crawls
S
o
u
t
h
Tries one more courageous
exuberant time and
Quits.
3-19-93
Phil
Philosophers tell it like it is.
Poets show it like it is.
But poets leave more room
For misinterpretation,
And people argue
Over what poets mean.
12-24-93
April is National Poetry Month
Lesson
An art teacher
Came into my dream,
As I leafed through
The drawings of a
friend.
He looked through,
Tearing up this one,
And that one,
As I watched.
I walked away-
I had seen this
Arrogance before-
I would not be his
audience.
Petulant professors
Prepare the lesson
Of arrogance-
It is a teaching tool.
They come like the
tornado,
Or like the house fire,
Or like death itself-
Teaching a lesson
That is not constructive.
11-26-91 4:54am
The Logotrope
A polar logotrope
States a position,
And progresses
incrementally,
Until it ends
With an opposite
statement.
A simple logotrope
Starts with a statement,
And progresses
incrementally,
Until it ends with a
Modified, though not
Opposite statement.
6-2-94
Polar Logotrope
A polar logotrope
Is a strongly held position,
That gradually changes,
Incrementally,
To its polar opposite.
6-2-94
Click below to view past articles
Time Again
Time progresses
Halfway round the circle,
Like clock hands
Circling over the top,
Toward the right;
Then at three,
Starting back to the left,
Time and time again.
6-2-94
Consider these comments among your fellow writers, and encourage each other to write as
you are gifted.
You Have the Real Stuff Inside You. Many a reader has internalized the best of
Shakespeare lines without benefit of the technical critic's tools, but by reading until the
meter becomes imbedded in his mind. Such an intuitive writer should never be discouraged
just because he has not equipped himself with the tools of the grammatist and the critic.
Your Writing Needs No Proof. The song of the cardinal or the oriole is known best to the
bird not to the critic. Art just is; it needs no further proof. It is up to the diagrammer to
diagram and the critic to criticize, not perform. The writer just starts to write and begins to
grow in the writing. The demands are quite different than the demands for the English
teacher. The bird is the true authority, learned in his own family. Truth is its own excuse for
being.
Tackle Something Beyond You. Don't be afraid to tackle the big problems. Surely you
have at least one idea that could improve on a minor or intermediate writer's work; or an
intermediate or renowned professor; or even Shakespeare or Moses. Jesus swept aside
the teachings of the elders (the academy of his day). And he said Ye shall do greater things
than these. What he must have meant, included: Get busy. So take courage; stir your own
arrogance; trim the critics down to size, and copy your words. Print them out to stick up on
your refrigerator with a magnet.
Inside You is a Divine Gift. Don't Hide It. Every human is an authority in one or many
ways. Call it up from deep inside. Remember that the bird, not the Metropolitan Opera, is
the master of song. The opera transcends its critics who cannot sing, and only you know
what only you know. Write and write it big.
Life is a Leaving
Life is a leaving behind.
It is a forgetting, a struggle
To do something that will last.
As we pass the way, we leave behind
Grandparents and the old home,
Parents and family,
Many friends,
And finally, ourselves.
We leave our body
To be buried by those
Who are busy with
The task of leaving us behind.
Where we go, we leave a mess for
others.
The sculptor leaves a mess
Of fragments and carved stone,
For others to guard,
Until it is completely destroyed.
He leaves books,
For libraries to catalogue,
And zealots to burn.
The poet leaves bridges
To tumble into the sea,
Lessons to fade into vague memories,
A reputation for others to defame.
What lasts is the winds of time,
Blowing fragments
Of what has been left behind;
What has been forgotten.
Fragments of life,
Memories of earlier times,
Until there is no reason
For the winds to blow,
And tumble things unthought of.
Then thought, too, will rest;
And the winds of the universe
Shall die down,
As universe leaves itself behind,
Unable to breathe life
Into anything new.
Hopeless poems left behind by young
men
Are replaced by the quiet hymns of age,
And by a desire to rest.
4-20-94
Erasing
Writing erases things
From your mind;
And places them in the mind
Of the reader.
But writing creates a desire
In the writer
To create more things
Like the ones erased;
So that the writer seeks more
Of what has been discarded.
1-13-94
Poems by Don J Carlson
Poems About Writing and for Writers
A Failed Line or Two
A line gets ready to go
But
Finds itself
Back at the
Left margin.
D-E-T-E-R-M-I-N-A-T-I-O-N tries
but
Fails to carry it far.
Again, it makes a valiant effort,
redoubled effort,
Fails,
Crawls
S
o
u
t
h
Tries one more courageous
exuberant time and
Quits.
3-19-93
Phil
Philosophers tell it like it is.
Poets show it like it is.
But poets leave more room
For misinterpretation,
And people argue
Over what poets mean.
12-24-93
April is National Poetry Month
Lesson
An art teacher
Came into my dream,
As I leafed through
The drawings of a
friend.
He looked through,
Tearing up this one,
And that one,
As I watched.
I walked away-
I had seen this
Arrogance before-
I would not be his
audience.
Petulant professors
Prepare the lesson
Of arrogance-
It is a teaching tool.
They come like the
tornado,
Or like the house fire,
Or like death itself-
Teaching a lesson
That is not constructive.
11-26-91 4:54am
The Logotrope
A polar logotrope
States a position,
And progresses
incrementally,
Until it ends
With an opposite
statement.
A simple logotrope
Starts with a statement,
And progresses
incrementally,
Until it ends with a
Modified, though not
Opposite statement.
6-2-94
Polar Logotrope
A polar logotrope
Is a strongly held position,
That gradually changes,
Incrementally,
To its polar opposite.
6-2-94
Click below to view past articles
Time Again
Time progresses
Halfway round the circle,
Like clock hands
Circling over the top,
Toward the right;
Then at three,
Starting back to the left,
Time and time again.
6-2-94
Consider these comments among your fellow writers, and encourage each other to write as
you are gifted.
You Have the Real Stuff Inside You. Many a reader has internalized the best of
Shakespeare lines without benefit of the technical critic's tools, but by reading until the
meter becomes imbedded in his mind. Such an intuitive writer should never be discouraged
just because he has not equipped himself with the tools of the grammatist and the critic.
Your Writing Needs No Proof. The song of the cardinal or the oriole is known best to the
bird not to the critic. Art just is; it needs no further proof. It is up to the diagrammer to
diagram and the critic to criticize, not perform. The writer just starts to write and begins to
grow in the writing. The demands are quite different than the demands for the English
teacher. The bird is the true authority, learned in his own family. Truth is its own excuse for
being.
Tackle Something Beyond You. Don't be afraid to tackle the big problems. Surely you
have at least one idea that could improve on a minor or intermediate writer's work; or an
intermediate or renowned professor; or even Shakespeare or Moses. Jesus swept aside
the teachings of the elders (the academy of his day). And he said Ye shall do greater things
than these. What he must have meant, included: Get busy. So take courage; stir your own
arrogance; trim the critics down to size, and copy your words. Print them out to stick up on
your refrigerator with a magnet.
Inside You is a Divine Gift. Don't Hide It. Every human is an authority in one or many
ways. Call it up from deep inside. Remember that the bird, not the Metropolitan Opera, is
the master of song. The opera transcends its critics who cannot sing, and only you know
what only you know. Write and write it big.