The Word Thief

I plan to continue my poetic adventure in 2023, similar to how I started in 2022, with a slight variation. Starting with the letter A, I will try to explore several poetry styles. This journey in poetry writing started two years ago when I strongly desired to learn more about reading and writing poetry. I’ll confess I got hung up while writing Black Out Poems at the end of 2022. Unless I get stuck again, I promise to be a little more diverse this year. I am kicking things off with an “Ars Poetic” poem which can be translated from Latin as “The Art of Poetry,” I titled The Word Thief.

How does “Ars Poetic?” relate to The Word Thief

Horace started this tradition somewhere around 13 B.C.E. This form of poetry is simply writing a poem about writing a poem. It expresses how the poet feels when engaged in the writing process, examining the poet’s relationship to the poem. There are no rules about meter or rhythm. Writing this form of poetry should be a fun experience.

The Word Thief
Like a bandit on a fast-moving train
Gliding past punctuation landmarks
Rules of grammar so hard to maintain
Swimming silently like shadowy sharks.
Clever in the night as a crafty safe cracker
Spinning the dial and running out of time.
Searching like a restless fugitive tracker
For a combination of meter and rhythm.
An outlaw scaling a steep prison wall
Past obstacles made of verbs and nouns
Dropping into a simile when you fall
Or metaphors where no one rebounds.
A desperado on a darkling plain
Filled with verbs and adjectives.
A gunfighter with words, nothing to offer or gain
Except for the nuggets of inspiration the muse gives.
A gangster living in poets’ skin
Steal words with my restless pen.

Who is Molly Shea?

Molly Shea is an accomplished fictional short story writer from Indiana who writes short stories and novels about a fictional town called Tecumseh.  To read more of her short stories and adventures, click here.

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