I have another poem for you all tonight. I feel like kicking National Poetry Month off with as many poems as possible because what better way is there to celebrate? I spoke this one while driving up to New Paltz.
There were low hanging clouds that were actually clouds and not just fog rolling down the mountains, and I thought it was cool because not too many people around me would ever see something like this — considering Long Island is mostly flat. Here’s what I got!
Through the Mountains
Many people see the clouds
and see them as unreachable,
even when they hang
low in the sky.
Or they can see the fog
as clouds that blanket
the trees and streets,
but they’ll always only be clouds.
How many people can look
at the clouds as they drive along
the mountains and see them
hanging along the edges
of the mountain faces
and think I can reach the heavens
as long as I can jump
high enough?
Submissions
If you’re interested in submitting your own poetry to Come and Go, please see my new submission guidelines. As always, you’ll see that I’m very open to any and all genres. I really want to expand the list of contributors to my blog so do not hesitate!
April Reading List
If you haven’t already seen, I posted the April Reading List on my blog. If I were you, I would check out Ocean Vuong’s collection of poems that recently won the TS Eliot Prize. His work has sparked so many ideas for my poetry and it even transfers over to my fiction.
Looking at the clouds now. 👏
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Hi Nick,
I really enjoyed this vivid read! Those last lines really linger on, “as long as I can jump high enough?” I like that you ended it with a question mark, it’s up to us to determine if we can make that jump or not.
I’m also curious about you saying you “spoke” this poem. Does that work better for your creative process than writing the words down?
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Hi Dawn! Thank you for the kind words. We never know if we’ll actually make the jump, if we’ll ever think about jumping, or if the jump is even worth it. I love the concept of stories and poems never actually ending.
As for speaking this poem out loud, I’m not sure if it’s better for my creative process, but it’s definitely a necessary part. I always think of lines and ideas that seem like they’re good, and I’ll even say to myself, “Wow, that sounds good,” but how do I know that without actually speaking the words?
When I use my voice, I can hear the words and make adjustments at a much faster pace. It’s very useful with poetry when I’m iffy about certain rhymes and enjambments.
I’m also the type of person that switches up how I write to spark new ideas. I have a fountain pen and leather-bound journal, I use my laptop, I have crappy notebooks lying around, I use scrap paper and things like napkins, post-its, and other things that restrict the space I have, and I use a typewriter.
If anything, changing the way in which I write is most essential for me. Lately, my voice has been what comes first in the entire process and it’s been working really well.
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Same here, life leaves you guessing so I like when stories and poems mirror that by leaving the ending open.
Also, the speaking out loud and switching up how you write makes sense to keep the creativity going! I don’t have the privilege of owning a typewriter but I do bounce back and forth between pen and keyboard. Some days the words flow better on one than the other.
I might experiment with using my voice next time an idea hits. Thanks for sharing some insight on your method!
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Any time! Let me know how it goes, too!
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Will do!
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