They say that ink is blood
and poetry are scars,
but just like scars
need skin,
your words need paper.
You seek the hush of cites
and the buzz in forests.
You need the warmth of winter
and the ice of summer.
As light needs darkness
a poem lacking silence is:
a wound without a body
an empty glass of water, and
a rose that blooms in darkness.
You want it all and nothing.
The Muse Of Silence by Giorgio de Chirico
Tomorrow I host the last OLN before we go on Summer-break on dVerse. Be sure to be there when we open at 3PM EST, I have a surprise for you.
—-
June 28, 2017
Björn Rudbergs writings 
Hot damn I love this. Read it three times.
Hope you’re doing well-
This is absolutely brilliant – you took my breath away with this one, the third stanza, especially, “As light needs darkness
a poem lacking silence is: a wound without a body …”
More and more, I find my poems filling up with ‘…’ and, if I’m honest, what I’m trying to say (but can’t) is: ‘pause here … take a breath … I think, a moment of silence is needed here’
“You want it all and nothing.” … perfect.
Wendy where are your words?
Brilliant…will be waiting for your prompt…
There is no prompt – for OLN you can link up any poem you want, but only one poem.
Okay…thank you…
Oh! Excited to know about that!
You need the warmth of winter
and the ice of summer.
Like it! Great word-craft Bjorn!
Hank
I love how you create a tiny moment of silence with the indents in the third stanza. Also the lines:
You need the warmth of winter
and the ice of summer.
are really fantastic!
“just like scars / need skin, / your words needs paper” — Wonderful.
This provides the writer with much food for thought. What a potent message – and the artwork is stunning too.
Have a great summer vacation, Bjorn. (I begin my winter break tomorrow.)
My vacation is still 2 weeks away… so I will keep writing until then
I loved this line “but just like scars
need skin,
your words need paper.”
Excellent!
Stunning metaphor!
I admire the contrast of themes, yet needing each to bloom brightly ~ Love this part:
As light needs darkness
a poem lacking silence is:
a wound without a body
an empty glass of water, and
a rose that blooms in darkness.
The rose blooming in darkness is what got to me.
Truth wrapped in truth, Björn! A “Poetry 101” from the poet’s view. Extremely well done!
A fabulous poem before the break, Bjorn! I really love the opening stanza!
I like the intimate relationship between skin and scars, ink and paper. It’s a great piece.
One of your best Bjorn. All the different metaphors in this, especially the entire third stanza.
Just as much of matter is empty space until we will it too have substance, poetry is rife with silence, between letters, between lines & stanzas. When I have time I tape a reading of my poems, because the silence needs to be broken, Metaphysically, thoughts are less important until uttered out loud, 1–read the poem silently, 2–listen to the reading aloud, 3–listen to the reading while re-reading the words–for me only that is the complete experience.
I agree that silence is necessary as well as the sound of words.
The silence, is reference. A point of comparison?
I love reading this and I agree that silence, pauses, and breathing room is so important, in poems, songs, and visual art too. Love the last line- all AND nothing. Nice!
Great poem, Bjorn, as always. I’m having trouble linking up to the FB video (missed the live session). I keep getting a “Page Not Available” message. Will try again later. Anxious to hear the surprise! Have a great vacation!!
Fantastic poem Bjorn. I love the presence you gave silence.
The title sets the poem up perfectly. You drew me in even more as I heard your reading and watched the video on the dverse website. The contrasts between silence and words is so key to poetry. Have a great vacation, Bjorn.
Breathless as I read; the imagery vivid. An intimate description of poet and poetry.
and after paper your words need nothing more than a reader to enjoy them – happy summer!
Interesting piece. Brings to mind the Japanese concept of ‘ma’ I enjoyed this a lot. Have a great break. See you on the other side.
Wisdom and beauty!
This is one of my favorite poems of yours. The metaphors perfectly portray poetry writing.
Beautiful write! I especially like ink is blood and ‘a rose that blooms in darkness’.
This gives me so much to consider. If you don’t mind, I would like to print it and tape it above my writing space.
Wow, what an honor
Well-deserved, my friend. Thanks. It’s printed.
There is a gracefulness in this poem, and also a depth. I like the straightforwardness as well. One has to consider sound, the underbeat in a poem through rhythm and cadence but as in all music there must be rests, fermatas, the time to breathe, to understand, to take it in, to steel for what’s coming, to resist, to push back, to think, to integrate, and then release. Your poem does all this quite well.
I love the wrestling with the great divide of be-ing and nothingness. I missed the party and the surprise. !
Beautiful poem! The second stanza resonates with me! Nice write.
I like this poem a lot. It conveys the importance of poetry to literature very well!