Question Home

Position:Home>Poetry> I have no idea what these lines from this poem means?


Question: I have no idea what these lines from this poem means!?
what do u think that the following lines mean:
crawled out and curled up at his feet!.

Maybe if we re-invent whatever our lives give us
we find poems!.


which are from this poem:
You can’t order a poem like you order a taco!.
Walk up to the counter, say, “I’ll take two”
and expect it to be handed back to you
on a shiny plate!.


5 Still, I like your spirit!.
Anyone who says, “Here’s my address,
write me a poem,” deserves something in reply!.
So I’ll tell a secret instead:
poems hide!. In the bottoms of our shoes,
they are sleeping!. They are the shadows
drifting across our ceilings the moment
before we wake up!. What we have to do
is live in a way that lets us find them!.

Once I knew a man who gave his wife

two skunks for a valentine!.
He couldn’t understand why she was crying!.
“I thought they had such beautiful eyes!.”
And he was serious!. He was a serious man
who lived in a serious way!. Nothing was ugly
just because the world said so!. He really
liked those skunks!. So, he re-invented them
as valentines and they became beautiful!.
At least, to him!. And the poems that had been hiding
in the eyes of skunks for centuries
crawled out and curled up at his feet!.

Maybe if we re-invent whatever our lives give us
we find poems!. Check your garage, the odd sock
in your drawer, the person you almost like, but not quite!.
And let me know!.

And the poems that had been hiding
in the eyes of skunks for centuries





Www@QuestionHome@Com


Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
And the poems that had been hiding
in the eyes of skunks for centuries
crawled out and curled up at his feet

A metaphor, the skunks are the inspiration for a poem and just as when an animal becomes friendly it will comem up and wrap around your feet, so the poem, metaphorically, comes to the poet like a friendly animal

Maybe if we re-invent whatever our lives give us
we find poems!.

Here the poet is saying that we find inspiration for poetry (and other creative acts, like giving gifts) by using our own experiences creatively, rather than poetry being produced on demand as a commodity!. If we look into our own experiences, however mundane we can find the poetry in these experiences!. I am reminded of the sequence in the film "American Beauty" where the young man, trapped in a family with rigid rules and no expression of affection, finds beauty in the dancing of a plastic bag, blown by the wind on a bleak day!. Www@QuestionHome@Com