Be.

Collins, River Vista, 2009

Ars Poetica

A poem should be palpable and mute 
As a globed fruit, 

Dumb 
As old medallions to the thumb, 

Silent as the sleeve-worn stone 
Of casement ledges where the moss has grown— 

A poem should be wordless 
As the flight of birds. 



A poem should be motionless in time 
As the moon climbs, 

Leaving, as the moon releases 
Twig by twig the night-entangled trees, 

Leaving, as the moon behind the winter leaves, 
Memory by memory the mind— 

A poem should be motionless in time 
As the moon climbs. 



A poem should be equal to: 
Not true. 

For all the history of grief 
An empty doorway and a maple leaf. 

For love 
The leaning grasses and two lights above the sea—

A poem should not mean 
But be.

- Archibald MacLeish