Ronnie McGinn's Poetry Page

What a poem says is of primary importance. A poem makes a statement or a declaration; it expresses a feeling or a mood; it relates a story or conveys an idea.

These, constitute meaning in poetry. But a poem is more than a statement, a declaration, a feeling, a mood, a story or an idea. If that were all, prose would be enough.

A poem is itself; it is an act of magic, an imaginative creation. No one can analyse its magic fully.

One thing we can say, however: a poem is made up of words. Words have not only meaning, but also form and sound.

Anita Daly of the Ballinlough Writers Group in Ballinlough, Cork, Ireland has given us this week's image creating poem.

Audition

You listen to me playing pieces
on the piano to display
my ability for the enjoyment .
We were reflected in the piano.

You who played the drums with abandon,
a showman at heart.
Known here and abroad.
There was a reflection in the piano.

Your shoulders in that black suit
still, squarely face me
and your eyes mist as you listen.
There was a reflection in the piano.

And long afterwards while still there
when I showed you this poem
your jaw dropped sadly as if you didn't care
yet we were still reflected in the piano.

© Anita Daly