Everything is a Poem
A Morning Pages poem inspired by Maggie Smith's lovely "Not Everything is a Poem"
“Not everything is a poem,” she wrote,
but I’ll be damned if I haven’t written haikus
and sonnets about everyone I know
and every rock, branch, breeze, and raindrop
I’ve ever noticed enough to love.
It’s true – not everything feels like poetry.
There’s boredom, childish anger, and commerce.
Impossible frustrations and embarrassing worries.
No poetry is hiding in the cat box or my tax folder
or my sleepless nights. Certainly not in my early alarm.
But the night finally succumbs to the morning sun
and the dark is split from the light. Even the ugly
can paint the page with rhythm and brevity.
Not everything warrants writing about
but those are just the things I want to read about.
How do you take your coffee, or do you prefer tea?
Tell me about your bedtime routine.
When you’re sad, do you crave salty or sweet?
What unread book makes you feel guilty?
Your death row last meal? (And why did they throw away the key?)
Every month, the first thing I read in Vanity Fair
is the Proust Questionnaire, which is sometimes
poetic enough for nothing-special days.
Everything isn’t lyrical, magical, rainbows and rhyme.
Drudgery has its place.
The floors need cleaning, we need a trip to the store
where choosing bread or pears might take half an hour.
Backed up traffic sighs more than it sings.
On the other hand, I can make a poem
out of my favorite sweater and oldest earrings.
Mundane defaults can be portals to the page.
Don’t you think, really, everything probably is a poem,
if we pause long enough to notice what it says?
Absolutely agree! There is poetry everywhere ✨
Gorgeous writing. Looking forward to reading more. Thank you.