Coming to Town

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. Black Out Poems became my obsession at the end of 2022. I promise to be a little more diverse this year. I will start in 2023 by writing an “Ars Poetic” style of verse. This form of poetry can be translated from Latin as “The Art of Poetry,” I titled this poem Coming to Town .

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.

Note: I decided to tackle my “Ars Poetic” poems by writing them in a series of poems without any rules of meter and rhythm. The subject matter concerns what I could write about if I chose to write about the subject matter.

Coming to Town

There was a cold January day.
We climbed down from the train.
The skies above us were a pale grey
And we wandered through an unfamiliar street
I found it hard to ignore my fear and maintain
A brave face with my mounting fear
Because my child’s heart knew 
No one would want us here
In this place filled with strangers
And our suitcases in our hands
Felt cold with a frosty heat
Three babies and a mother in impending danger
I guess I could write about that

Like notes sung by a little bird
Letter upon letter
Word upon word
Line upon line 
Stanza upon stanza
This poem is for me to create and define

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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