For J.D. Harms
Poem of gratitude
JD
come rhyme with me
come play a little longer
help massage these words into wandering prose as everyone knows you are the maestro of…Poetry has released me from the hate, the regret, the indifference of this world we inhabit. Only now I feel your absence as the rain comes down dampening everything and the words too saturated to germinate into imagery.
Having trouble writing these days without your wordsmithing handoffs — was a sprinter in my former life — the passing of the baton an art form in and of itself — cos let’s face it, we ain’t alone in this one life we got — but now I got nothing to grasp at — no words to befall my tongue — I am tongue-tied, befuddled and lacking the will to write.
I don’t follow easily — a bit of a maverick is how I’ve always seen me. But everyone needs a guard rail or beacon of sight — a stranger that presents in the darkest of night — an outstretched hand — a steadying voice that steers ahead despite the abject fright.
It’s easy to effuse our grievances — much harder to express our gratitude — much harder still to speak our love. I have found prosody in poetry thanks to you JD — your secondary name so filled with irony — for it is harmony that you have helped reverberate throughout these hollowed coves of anonymity.
May you write on, rock on and find your peace. With much gratitude. May you breathe and be still. Thank You.
B&BS
This one is long overdo. A difficult write and a difficult one to let go but a very necessary tribute. I’m certain I am not alone in this sentiment.
So many of my poems are attributed to J.D.’s influence. It’s hard to highlight just one but as I wrote this poem of gratitude there is one poem that kept reverberating in my mind. It stands out because I honestly don’t know where it came from — as if it didn’t come from me — for that is how provocative the prompt.
J.D. Harms prompt that got me there — pure genius
