Simple Words

"One day I will find the right words, and they will be simple." -Jack Kerouac

One day I will find the words

One day

But not today. 

Today the words scamper from outstretched hands

I, clawing for one syllable, one sound 

as they melt into the camouflage of boredom

Unreachable. 

One day I will find the words

pluck them from the branches of my mind

gather them into the basket of a pen

and take them home, 

lay them out to dry on a blank page. 

I will paste them down,

thought by thought

verse by verse, dactyl, measure, line,

Till they've made a sentence

a phrase, a page. 

One day, I will find the words

they will be simple, beautiful, soft

as I take their dry hulls,

and line them up in ranks 

on the field of an unwritten page. 

One day I will find the words,

but it is not today. 

Author's Note

Inspired by a Jack Kerouac quote.

Reviews

[.]

love jack kerouacs writing,
and i quite like this piece, too.
it's ironic that you found the words to pen some wonderful lines here - like,
"as I take their dry hulls,
and line them up in ranks
on the field of an unwritten page."


well done

[Elaenor Aisling]

Thank You! :)

[Tex]

lovely... great pic by your name btw.

[Elaenor Aisling]

Thanks! :)

[David Scott]

A poets poem! You have a gift and it is obvious from the very first glance...
I'm glad to find your work!

[Elaenor Aisling]

Thank you so much! :)