.

There Is a Way?

Is there a way for beauty to be painted with a word?
Is there a way to write in ways so music can be heard?
Is there a way to make a point that others can’t ignore?
Is there a way to say it that has not been said before?

Is there a way so rhythm adds to what you want to say?
Is there a way to use a rhyme that won’t get in the way?
Is there a way for words to dance? To uplift and inspire?
Is there a way for words to set a reader’s heart on fire?

With patience, skill and discipline the art of formal verse
Can take a single grain of sand and frame the universe.
And life, and death, the heavens, Earth and what plays out upon it,
May find their way into a villanelle, rondeau or sonnet.

Is there a way to point beyond what words alone express?
In poetry, the answer is a loud, resounding, “Yes!”

.

.

Ready to Go

Give me a subject or name me a name
Any old prompt will do, it’s all the same.
Then I will write on whatever it is,
Whether the subject is “its,” “hers,” or “his.”

Poetry? Prose? Doesn’t matter to me.
Set me some limits or let me be free.
Comedy, tragedy, or in-between,
Hurricanes, conflicts or things more serene.

Tickle my fancy with laughter or tears,
Weddings or funerals, altars or biers.
Show me a sunset, I’ll extemporize
God-splattered paint on kaleidoscope skies.

Fiction or history, blessing or curse.
Wrapped in a novel or captured in verse.
Pushcart or Pulitzer, laurel-leaf crown;
Give me a minute and I’ll write it down.

.

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James A. Tweedie is a retired pastor living in Long Beach, Washington. He has written and published six novels, one collection of short stories, and three collections of poetry including Mostly Sonnets, all with Dunecrest Press. His poems have been published nationally and internationally in The Lyric, Poetry Salzburg (Austria) Review, California Quarterly, Asses of Parnassus, Lighten Up Online, Better than Starbucks, Dwell Time, Light, Deronda Review, The Road Not Taken, Fevers of the Mind, Sparks of Calliope, Dancing Poetry, WestWard Quarterly, Society of Classical Poets, and The Chained Muse. He was honored with being chosen as the winner of the 2021 SCP International Poetry Competition.

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15 Responses

  1. Mary Gardner

    A loud, resounding “Yes!” to these optimistic and invigorating poems, Pastor James.
    The first poem effectively employs anaphora to build up tension, which is released in the subsequent couplets. The second poem moves with a chipper feeling. In both, the meter and rhyme are flawless.

    Reply
  2. Roy Eugene Peterson

    These are two great poems depicting the use of words to paint a picture of how a poet can creatively and imaginatively conceive the universe and all that it contains. The words of both poems are the reflection of a beautiful mind.

    Reply
  4. Joseph S. Salemi

    Delightful! And the line “God-splattered paint on kaleidoscope skies” is strikingly brilliant.

    Reply
    • Cynthia Erlandson

      That was my favorite phrase, also — the consonance in “kaleidoscope skies” makes such graceful percussive music!

      Reply
  5. Paul A. Freeman

    Two great poems, but ‘There is a Way’ – wow! It’s the kind of poem people memorise to keep in mind how good their best work can be if they really try.

    Thanks for the reads, James

    Reply
  6. Jeff Eardley

    Great to read and an inspiration to us all. I really enjoyed these. Thank you.

    Reply
  8. Satyananda Sarangi

    I felt elated while reading “There is a way”. These are the poems that lighten up one’s day.

    Reply
  9. James A. Tweedie

    Every one of these kind comments is appreciated. As poets, I am always glad when we can encourage and inspire one another to be “Ready to Go” in our pursuit of the best poetry we can create.

    Reply
  10. Warren Bonham

    I was struck by the repetition of the “is there a way” questions with each bringing something new to the table and then the final one being a masterful summation that you accurately answered with a resounding “Yes”. Very well done.

    Reply
  11. Cynthia Erlandson

    I love the way you compared writing to painting, music, and dance. Both poems are wonderful, but I especially love the first one.

    Reply
  12. Margaret Coats

    “There Is A Way?” asks the philosophic question about transcendence in formal verse, and in the final couplet explicitly includes the necessary intent to transcend words themselves. It is high art to do this with effective emphasis that seems almost effortless.

    Reply
  13. Hari Hyde

    What a glorious paean to poets! And overture to the poet’s summons! Every poet seeks “a way” to expose an emotion with the most unforeseen yet secret-less syllables. “There Is a Way?” got me thinking about paths and roads (maybe Frost’s). But I think the poetry “way” is most like a railway. Trains are ensconced in romantic lore while automobiles are not. Dickinson’s “The Railway Train” wouldn’t be magical as “The Interstate.” I think the sea and sky are magical “ways” only because there is no “way,” and chaos is conceded. Poets find their chain-linked syllables, from locomotive to caboose, upon the tracks already laid, in the sole, truthful “way,” awaiting its travelers with throbbing red lights and a wailing whistle.

    Reply

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