The mention of "illusion" by Nordette in her review of Escape caused me to recall this poem which I wrote about 2 years' ago. And I find the quote by Don Paterson to die for:

"Poetry is a dark art, a form of magic, because it tries to change the way we perceive the world. That is to say it tries to make the texture of our perception malleable."

... What say you? :)) LOL K xx

POETIC ALCHEMY


What is a poem but literary magic
performed on a well-set stage,
its form manipulated into a royal flush
teased from a fluttering deck
of well-chosen cards.

Original Thought, the magician’s muse,
flirts flamboyantly close;
fluttering her feathers with lavish gestures,
she distracts and concentrates equally.

Like bright silk hankies from a dark top hat,
words appear, disappear,
then re-enter from the wings,
boxed, chopped and split
from their meaning;

appearing the same,
they act strangely different,
transformed by colour and tone.

The poet’s performance is cloaked in silence,
casting our minds back to a single reality,
to a shining epiphany suspended in time.

But, once outside,
the moment is gone,
the magic is lost and
drifts away faceless,
mingling with crowds on the street.