poetry from the heart

i love poetry

i say this to children in classrooms decorated in a jubilee of wow words

i love poetry

i say this and the children look at me thinking

will we have to write a poem

i tell them they love poetry too

and yes

they will have to write a poem

i have to tell them i love poetry in case nobody else will

in case nobody else takes them to the slim bookcase in a bookshop

and pulls down a book thickened

by paper cheaply chiselled from the tree

in case nobody else takes them past everything which has stopped anyone

from telling them

they too love poetry

past the word

past the understanding

past the fact no poem has ever

yet

been turned into a film

and i would ask them not

to write a poem

but to tell me what they love

in any way they can

and then to go and play

in the space between lessons

and ask where they feel more alive

because that is why

i love poetry