And then something happened

For the last few days, I've been type-tied. A bad case of writer's block. There were several drafts but nothing published. Nothing seemed quite right. But that was until I came across this poem. So simple. Yet so vivid. I read it after a particularly busy morning. It was rushing about everywhere and when I sat down to read it, the style forced me to slow down. 'No, no', it seems to be saying, 'read, pause, read, now slowly'. Genius.

'Poem for Everyone'

I will present you
parts
of
my
self
slowly
if you are patient and tender.

I will open drawers

that mostly stay closed

and bring out places and people and things

sounds and smells,

loves and frustrations,

hopes and sadnesses,

bits and pieces of three decades of life

that have been grabbed off

in chunks

and found lying in my hands.

they have eaten

their way into my memory,

carved their way into

my heart.

altogether

- you or i will never see them -

they are me.

if you regard them lightly,

deny that they are important

or worse, judge them

i will quietly, slowly,

begin to wrap them up,

in small pieces of velvet,

like worn silver and gold jewelry,

tuck them away

in a small wooden chest of drawers

and close.

-- John T. Wood

1974

Takes your breathe away, doesn't it? Pass it on