marching

by henry b stevens

June 28 2008


marching to
the lockstep
of time

the rough
parts of
the body

start to
destroy the
whole

as the mind
sits like a
child sitting

on the curbing
watching a parade
and cries

.....................

Author's notes on the poem "marching."

This poem is a typical gift poem for me.  I didn't sit dowm to write a poem.  This poem came, as so many of my poems, as I woke up from sleep with the poem in my head.  When this happens I get up and go to the kitchen counter where I have left a pen and blank paper the night before and just start writing.  I do not turn on a light but just write in the dark. 

When finished I go back to bed and back to sleep.

In the morning I enter my gift into my computer using Notepad and process it from there. 

Sure I do some neating up and may even rewrite parts here and there.  But a surprising number end up appearing on AD and other places pretty much as they were written down.

It happened that "marching" was a poem published on AD as written with one correction.  I crossed out an unnecessary word.  But sometimes my "gift" is just some notes to work with for a poem or essay. I am happy for whatever I recieve.

I wonder how my friends on AD write most of their material?

  s/henry