The Poet as Bivalve

The Poet as Bivalve
by Betsy McKenzie

Like an oyster, with a grain of sand,
The poet uses pain and sorrow
As the core, the skeleton
To be coated with irridescence,
Rolled and mulled
Reworked and polished,
Until she forms
A pearl of a poem.

Or maybe a poem is like
Great oven mitts
Or tongs
To hold ideas
Too hot, too painful, too big
For prose.

May 21, 2007