We Will Be Fed

[PrinceMyshkin]

There is a hunger in us
for which the veal
has yet to be calved, fattened
and slaughtered, the grain
to be planted, cultivated,
harvested, milled and baked
into some as yet unimagined bread.

We are hungry
and we will be fed.

[firefangled]

A well constructed testament to the human spirit.

For me this poem expresses not only a physical but a metaphysical hunger as well. Different in style, but sentiments akin to many expressed by Walt Whitman.

[AuntShecky]

Man doesn't live by bread -- or scallopini --alone.

Seriously, a nice one, Prince!

[Granny5]

Enjoyed this very much, Jerry. Excellent.

[Delta40]

I like the anticipation of it and as each line passes, the voice of the people increase....!

[Pendragon]

A truly great, simple poem that speaks to the heart of the reader

[DanielBenoit]

So simple and beautiful! Tension seems to build as hunger increases. I especially liked the rhyming of 'bread' and 'fed'

Upon re-reading it over and over, I must say, I truly envy your rhythm and strucutre.

[PrinceMyshkin]

So simple and beautiful! Tension seems to build as hunger increases. I especially liked the rhyming of 'bread' and 'fed'

Upon re-reading it over and over, I must say, I truly envy your rhythm and strucutre.

Many thanks, Daniel...

[MorpheusSandman]

I love your use of line breaks and commas in this one; it really creates a wonderful rhythm.

[PrinceMyshkin]

I love your use of line breaks and commas in this one; it really creates a wonderful rhythm.

I appreciate this deeply because sometimes line-breaks are the ligaments of my poetry. If I had the knack of kneading and rolling dough I think I might get the same pleasure from that as I do from my line-breaks!

[MorpheusSandman]

Even though our aesthetic and poetic tastes tend to run contrary I can definitely appreciate the effort you put into your pieces. On first glance there's almost always a sense of utter ease to them; almost carelessness, and yet when I analyze them more carefully I always find something in the form or the language that shows a real effort. Like a swan that's so calm and peaceful on the surface but whose legs are endlessly paddling away. They have an effortless profundity to them. I wish I had your poetic sense for how free-verse should be structured since I'd openly admit carelessness on my part in my free-verse pieces. I tend to be the neo-classicist and I definitely feel I could learn a lot from your poetry in that respect.

[PrinceMyshkin]

Even though our aesthetic and poetic tastes tend to run contrary I can definitely appreciate the effort you put into your pieces. On first glance there's almost always a sense of utter ease to them; almost carelessness, and yet when I analyze them more carefully I always find something in the form or the language that shows a real effort. Like a swan that's so calm and peaceful on the surface but whose legs are endlessly paddling away. They have an effortless profundity to them. I wish I had your poetic sense for how free-verse should be structured since I'd openly admit carelessness on my part in my free-verse pieces. I tend to be the neo-classicist and I definitely feel I could learn a lot from your poetry in that respect.

Thanks for a marvelously provocative appreciation, in particular your tactful reference to the "almost carelessness" that you discern in some or many of my poems, and which I will cop to as the weak sister of the spontaneity I aim for (insofar as one can aim for spontaneity). You may be giving me too much credit, however, in the "real effort" you see: the effort is mostly the outcome of the many poems I've written before any more recent ones you come across. I do worry at times that I might be a touch too facile. Other than poems that are meant to amuse, I fight against my own glibness.

Thanks again.

[MorpheusSandman]

Perhaps the best term I could use instead of effort is the second definition of facility:
2. readiness or ease due to skill, aptitude, or practice; dexterity:Call it an unconscious ability molded through experience to give a real shape, form, and structure to spontaneity. I've often found that the real trick in creating spontaneously is to make it look like it was carefully planned, while the real trick to creating pieces that are carefully planned is to make them sound spontaneous, all the while still maintaining the characteristics that come from both spontaneity and planning, respectively. It's that yin/yang balance thing at work again, methinks.

[PrinceMyshkin]

Perhaps the best term I could use instead of effort is the second definition of facility: Call it an unconscious ability molded through experience to give a real shape, form, and structure to spontaneity. I've often found that the real trick in creating spontaneously is to make it look like it was carefully planned, while the real trick to creating pieces that are carefully planned is to make them sound spontaneous, all the while still maintaining the characteristics that come from both spontaneity and planning, respectively. It's that yin/yang balance thing at work again, methinks.

I agree with the latter statement, re carefully planned poems, as in this favourite of mine:

http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15301
but in either case I submit that the way one practices poetry is inseparable from the way one deals with the world, e.g., one's lovers, children, enemies, the clerks and waitpersons one encounters...