Poetry
as defined by the dictionary
is imaginative language or composition,
expressed rhythmically or in prose,
sometimes involving
meter, rhyme, and verse.
I suppose
if you wanted to be technical
that would suffice,
but what does it really mean?


Poetry
is a way of looking at life.
It's the difference
between being stuck in traffic
during heavy rains and thinking,
“This sucks. I'm going to be late,”
and thinking the big, fat drops
pummeling the roof of your car
sound like corn popping in a metal pot,
and the windshield wipers
are slapping to the beat
of your favorite dance tune.


Poetry,
like the flint that sparks the fire,
ignites something in us,
makes a pause and think,
“Yes, that's it. I see it.”
I've heard Muhammad Ali
is credited with writing the shortest poem—
just two words:
Me. We.
A world of possibility
lives in those two words.


That is
the meaning
of poetry.

~Elise Skidmore ©2020

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