local_library I Know How to Get Beauty in the Poem

by Jamie Spenser

Published in Issue No. 297 ~ February, 2022

imagine a bridge over the Seine

use an adjective or two

take a breath

take another breath

light on commentary

 

think of a person

that makes you not think straight

there’s no time to spend

trying to pry things apart

what is the space between

a body and its wing

 

I know how to get beauty into the poem

 

like this

this

this

 

I know how to get beauty into the poem

ignore the spaces between

the light and the dark

it’s best to build a bridge

a suspension of belief

minds are meant to be shut down

turned off to be turned on

 

a poem without subject or object

the space between is glory

 

a note

a rest

a beat

another note

 

like this

this

this

 

a love poem without

subject or object

loved and be-loved

 

 

I know how to get beauty into the poem

strip it of possessions

add more words each word

a way forward

an argument

an event

 

a jump

at beauty

crossing a bridge

 

a city 10 times larger than it seemed

a foggy space that somehow roars

under the bridge feet in water

pants rolled up

 

I know how to get beauty into the poem

leave out the flowers

account_box More About

I am a San Francisco poet who has been published in the New York Quarterly and Sheila-Na-Gig. I act on the presumption that “nothing is not connected” and hope that emerges in coherent work.