June, The Perfect Days

poetry writing that formulates a concentrated imaginative awareness of experience in language chosen and arranged to create a specific response through meaning, sound, and rhythm; also, something likened to poetry esp. in beauty of expression

The above definition gives a poet two choices: to follow a strict pattern of rhythm and rhyme, or to express emotion in what is called "free verse". The sonnet form has been demonstrated here previously; also examined has been the carefree "doggerel". Free verse is the poetry of choice for June. The first day of June gives rise to thoughts of a certain beginning.

Verse 1

When we walk we float
over curbs, skirt open manholes,
teeter on brinks, oblivious -
nothing exists but us.
Through some phenomenon of mind
other people fade, become transparent,
disappear.

And yet I see you clearly
and I know that you see me.

The next poem represents a future time and experience. It is not an ending; it is a midpoint, and its subject is the same as in Verse 1.


Verse 2

The rain attacks my darkened pane
with wet and urgent-knuckled rap.
Aroused, I step with eager tread
to press my cheek against
the cold, vibrating glass, and
strain to see...
night. The roaring void holds only wind
and cross-hatched rain.
You are not there.
I sink to lonely sheets, curl myself
to fetal form and wait for warmth from
quilt and wool to comfort me.
Stacatto shattered drops drum on,
demanding a response.

I shut it out, withdraw to my secure
cocoon
And hear my soft and solitary pulse
repeat in gentle rhythms where you are.

Both verses are about the same thing, but diverse in tone and taken from different viewpoints. If you were to write a poem, would you use the traditional form or free verse? Do you recognize the subject matter in the above poems? Have you written or attempted to write poetry?

James Russell Lowell wrote

And what is so rare as a day in June? Then, if ever, come perfect days.