The Shelf of Sadness

[Todd]

Loved this, the last two lines especially. I think there can be a tendency as writers to try to mine sadness making this or that tragedy the basis for a poem. It can be ghoulish.

Live long enough and this poem proves out--sadness does write itself.

Thanks

[Leanne]

Beautiful. Very little in poetry irritates me more than poets "jumping on the bandwagon" to make the most of tragic events. Your last lines sum it up perfectly.

[billy]

at last, a poet that knows what real sadness is and how to frame it in a way that isn't emotional theft. i just got off the phone with my daughter who was in a serious car accident. (she okay) and read this, which puts poetry in perspective. real sadness isn't found in words. great read.

I was going to write a sad poem
But my nephew shot himself
So I'll guess I'll wait 'til later
And I put it on the shelf

I finally took it down today
But before I started to write
I got a call from a friend of mine
His daughter died last night

So on the shelf it went once more
To wait 'til grief has passed
Again I took the paper down
To write my sorrow at last

But as my muse began to cry
A knock came at my door
A neighbor came to me in tears
Her husband killed in war

I never wrote that sad poem
It sits upon the shelf
Sadness needs no poet at all
It somehow writes itself

[arbil_poieo]

Very true, poems can't create sadness, it creates itself.

I like the last 2 lines they're very wise and "But as my muse began to cry" I think that's a best way to describe that moment when one is trying to write about pain.

An impressive poem with a philosophical twist, who could want more?