April Poem #4 – A Galaxy of Words

I have been a lover of words from the moment I heard my mother sing to me.  Words were magic and for years I tried to teach that magic to children.  But can you really teach magic?  How do you form a poem, how do you take the words and make meaning, your meaning known, your feelings, thoughts, and ideas made visible? What is the way to make what is magical, tangible?  I pondered this today trying to find a way to express where poems originate. 

Sometimes poems just appear in my mind like a picture, and I quickly write it down before it disappears.  Sometimes  poems come to me as a song, especially when I’m walking.  I say it aloud over and over again, revising as a I go, repeating and repeating until it sounds just right.  I memorize it until I get pen and paper in hand. Then other times, when I’m reading, I discover words and images that stick out to me and seem to say, “Here I am. Use me.”  I collect these and roll them over and over in my mind, these great galaxy of words and images, and they eventually re-form to become a poem, something magical.

My inspiration for A Galaxy of Words from NaPoWriMo, or National Poetry Writing Month: 30 Poems in 30 Days, which was created by Maureen Thorson AND from Verse-Love, Ethical ELA, which was created by Sarah J. Donovan. I am grateful for these two platforms for providing inspiration. And to Fran Haley who provided the line, “Falling from the stars.”

A Galaxy of Words


Falling from the stars,
Grab the last bit of gossamer
From the ink black night.

Hold it tight in your hands
As it leaks through your fingers,
Silver and shimmering.

Across the sky,
It writes its name 
In the darkness.

Free-verse and rhyming,
The rhythm and vibrations
Of the whole great universe.

A poem slowly forms
Out in the darkness,
Created by light.

It spreads and radiates,
It turn in upon itself
And then explodes.

Creating a whole new galaxy,
Making space in the darkness,
Illuminating the unknown.