- D. Ellsworth
Decisions on Voice
As a poet I get to play easily with direction. I can write something merely pleasing as Twilight below. I can write something introspective like Meadowlark where I contemplate the meaning of words. I can write something addressed directly to the audience as in Standing Alone. Sometimes the hardest part of writing is deciding what is the proper mood and direction for the subject at hand. I was pleased with these poems and hope they give you pleasure.
Twilight
Light blue and peach pink
The sky loitering at night's brink
A quite time of reverie
On desert, mountain, plain, sea.
On a short trip, just me,
I would like to drive to eternity.
This is the feeling of free
Nothing to prove, just to be.
So when saffron light's on the lea
Leave me be with my dreams and tea.
Meadowlark
Serendipitous circumstance
never is quite real
'tis the crossroads of the obvious
with the surreal.
Though it may seem random,
it's the crossing of two planes
and shows in all conditions
3D remains.
It is purely happenstance
neither bad nor good.
'tis simply a meadowlark
lost in the wood.
Standing Alone
I think I got the message
you've been hollering at me.
You don't want to live in my shadow
nor shelter in my lee.
You want to spread your wings
in the illusion of being free.
You long to be out in the sun
for everyone to see.
I whisper to you an answer
as simple as can be,
"Freedom is much like
the capital letter C.
Open to exploring
but guarded on the back—
where plans can be made
without fear of sneak attack."
An interlocking jigsaw puzzle
all people are
although they try to hold off
and ignore it from afar.
Every idea is anchored
to others, Toots,
remember run it up the flag pole
see who salutes.
All the feeling of success
really has its roots
in the people you can get
to give two hoots.
Even in your big boy pants
and fancy stomping boots
you stand upon the shoulders
of wise men and brutes.