National Poetry Month
When a poem speaks by itself, it has a spark and can be considered part of a divine conversation. Sometimes the poem weaves like a basket around two loaves of yellow bread. "Break off a piece of this April with its raisin nipples," it says. "And chew them slowly under your pillow. You belong in bed with me." On the other hand, when a poem speaks in the voice of a celebrity it is called television or a movie. "There is nothing to see," say Robert De Niro, though his poem bleeds all along the edges like a puddle crudely outlined with yellow tape at the crime scene of spring. "It is an old poem," he adds. "And besides, I was very young when I made it."
Credit
From The Cloud of Knowable Things by Elaine Equi. Copyright © 2003 by Elaine Equi. Published by Coffee House Press. Used with the permission of the publisher. All rights reserved.
Author
Elaine Equi

Elaine Equi is the author of numerous poetry books including, Click and Clone (Coffee House Press, 2011).
Date Published: 2003-01-01
Source URL: https://poets.org/poem/national-poetry-month