Sound of Poetry

Plum:
delicious
juicy
round-sounding
words
swirl
on lips
of readers
devouring
this poem.

Sestina:
tears
and children,
teapots
sing
in a house
where
no parent
seems
to live.


Like many of you, I am drawn to the poem "Plum" because of the way it sounds. You can tell the poet is really having fun thinking of just the right word, how it sounds, how it shapes the reader's lips. The experience of reading the poem mimics the act of savoring a juicy plum. I also am very fond of "Sestina." Not only is the structure of the poem fascinating (and hard to pull off! I have yet to write a successful sestina), but the topic of the poem is interesting, too. There is definitely a sense of loss and loneliness in the poem, a sense of how humans cannot always connect or comfort one another. Isn't it interesting how some of the objects come to life (the iron, the picture)? I look forward to hearing your interpretations!