Poetry Excerpts

Parts of Speech –Ingrid De Kok

Some stories don’t want to be told.

They walk away, carrying their suitcases
held together with grey string.
Look at their disappearing curved spines.
Hunchbacks. Harmed ones. Hold-alls.

Punishment – Seamus Heaney

My poor scapegoat,

I almost love you

but would have cast, I know
the stones of silence.

Ars Poetica – Archibald MacLeish

A poem should not mean

But be.

Diving into the Wreck – Adrienne Rich

I came to explore the wreck.
The words are purposes.
The words are maps.
I came to see the damage that was done
And the treasures that prevail.