When I wrote The Essence of Love I wrote some more words on the so-called "rules" of poetry writing. That time I wrote of the tendency to have poems be longer than they should be, because you might feel something is too short to be a "proper" poem.
This time I'm going to discuss something similar, yet subtly different.
Aphorisms and idioms are a form of poetic prose. When you have a "zinger", the tendency to wrap it up in a lot of words can come not just because we feel we need more words for a "proper poem," but also because we feel the need to keep explaining.
Resist that urge. You need not bandage up the heart of your piece.
Also, images are something external to the poem, but just as punctuation is part of your medium, and rhymes, so can actual images be, just as the title of the piece is part of it. Use these tools carefully to mold the experience.
Without you,
no matter how grand,
this house is but a ziggurat
exalting self-importance.
No matter how beautiful,
these prayer-housing caverns,
are but a mausoleum for the Divine.
Without you.
Why "The Empty House 2"? Because I wrote another poem by the same title last week, which isn't being shared for now. But in my mind, this is still the second one.
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© Guy Shalev 2018.