I like poems whose impact is immediate and deep; poems that encapsulate strong feelings and ideas in a moment of imagery or action. I suppose that’s why I gravitate toward short poems.
Many times, the things I decide to write about happen in a flash, a moment where the mundane becomes metaphor. It’s made me wonder if poetry is more a way of seeing the world, and some people express this through writing.
In any case, when I write, I’m often trying to capture one of these poetic moments. Distilling them into as few words as possible seems the most fitting. Sometimes, more words just dilutes things.
Below is a poem I wrote called “Robin.” This was the opening poem in my first book, The Wind and the Shadows. The basic facts of the poem are pretty mundane: I hear a robin sing early in the morning. If you get more out of it than that, leave a comment below. I’d like to hear your thoughts!
Robin As the sun drags itself out of bedrock in the dark, I wonder how you sing.
A Wandering Minstrel 
There is a bit of gloom to this piece. We have the sun dragging itself out of bed(rock), and yet despite the dawn, even if it is a resistant dawn, the day is still dark. Very curious.
For me, the poem hinges on the word “wonder.” We might have said “ponder”, “consider”, or “think about”, yet the word we get is one that means those aforementioned words, but with an extra undercurrent of awe, beauty, and surprise. This poem reminds me that sometimes physical light alone cannot light our day—sometimes (often, I’d say) we need the experience of wonder.
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Great comments! I like how you characterized “wonder”—nailed it 🤘
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Short and sweet, yet it conveys the wonder of nature so well
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Thank you 😊
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