Poem

By Professor Hendree B. Milward III

Occasionally I'm asked what it is like to write poetry.

mostly, a poem is like a fish that fights the line,

and a poet a fisherman that doesn't want to fight,

and thought, a line that breaks under tension.

Yet there are times,

unaided by fisherman or line,

the poem simply jumps in the boat

whole, inexplicable, stunned

as surprised by itself as you are

this is what poets mean

when they say they discover a poem

And discovering poems is why

we put up with writing them

the experience of jumping

leaving the water

expecting to have gravity

take you back

and by nothing but dumb luck

finding a boat

being taken beyond

gasping

 Hendree B. Milward III is Professor of Mathematics at CT State Tunxis.