Poetry is a cloudy day in summer,
a veiled sun with assurance of rain
weightless like a kettlebell resting.
It is promise and a riddle,
unmoving, stillborn until read,
but when spoken
wings unfold, a bat or butterfly
depends on sun and moon,
the time of day or
if whispered to a westward wind,
or if night and moon conspire
with the reader’s dreamscape
to bring the rain and soak the soil.
Harmony Hammond
Today Grace hosts dVerse MTB with a challenge to write Ars Poetica, I thin I missed it when we did it before, and my thought was that a poem becomes poetry only when read.
June 25, 2026
Björn Rudbergs writings 
Beautiful writing and reading process – A promise and a riddle. I specially like: with the reader’s dreamscapeto bring the rain and soak the soil.
Thank you… I really wanted to bring in the reader.
such exquisite imagery – especially the kettlebell
Weightless until you know it’s not.
I love the thought of poetry as ‘a cloudy day in summer’, Björn, and ‘promise and a riddle’; it seems that we spend our lives solving riddles that are ‘unmoving, stillborn until read’; and such a wonderful ending!
Thank you… yes poetry should be a collaboration between writer and reader.
I couldn’t agree more!
Excellent use of metaphor, Bjorn. I especially like your closing line.
Thank you… closing back to the rain was an idea that I wanted to use.
Poetry is indeed a riddle and a promise. Waiting to be deciphered and shared. Perhaps, the rain brings growth to a thought that becomes a poem once shared. But, it begs can it still be a poem if it isn’t shared?
Maybe I’m wrong in there… but I see poetry as a way of communicating…
Bjorn, I do agree poetry is a form of communication.
enjoy you break
I love the balance you strike throughout this poem, indeed poetry is what keeps the order in my chaotic mind…well-done!🩵
Thanks, we need that order and just thinking about it was what brought this to life
Beautiful
All art is an interaction with the viewer/ reader, Björn, there is no guarantee that the reader will understand a poem the way the poet meant it and people often forget that when it comes to poetry – so well said…
The art of poetry comes full circle, like weather patterns, or wings bearing weight.
I like the idea of your poem. And like this line “It is promise and a riddle”. I think when reading poetry you say it in your head at least.
I love the ‘solidity’ of your poem – Jae
“Weightless like a kettleball resting” nailed it for me! Well done!
‘A cloudy day in summer’ is a perfect phrase for a poem.
and moon conspire
with the reader’s dreamscape
to bring the rain and soak the soil
Great close Bjorn. I like the idea of a ‘conspiracy’ of the writer and the reader to bring out the resultant poem into the open
Hank
Exactly. A good poem is what it describes!!!
“a bat or butterflydepends on sun and moon” – Nice
How beautiful. I especially love:
“It is promise and a riddle,
unmoving, stillborn until read”