Embodying Emotion

The words do not come cheaply

When writing of emotion.

The poet feels it deeply,

Embodying each notion,

Then lining up some rhymes that fit

The currents of its ocean.

 

Projection, make-believe, or empathy,

I’m not sure what to make of it,

But each imagined life that comes to me,

Regardless, teaches me a bit

Of joys and pains and wonder,

And I must hold them deeply
To heal or rend my heart asunder,

But the price is felt less steeply

If the words reach someone, somewhere

And embody depths for them to share.

 

This is my second post about the new book. The book is split into four major sections with different themes. Before the first section, though, there are a few introductory poems about the act of composing poetry - or at least my own approach to it. This poem is one of those, and it focuses on the need to really feel the emotions being expressed in the words, even (perhaps especially) if those emotions are associated with a person different from the poet.