The Landscape of Poetry

the landscape of poetry
runs downhill
its birthplace
small but high
its lines the hills
that chart its course
through pauses
valleys
where the meaning flows
rills that run down
flashing freshets
following destinies
chosen by their origins
and by the tumbled words
that sometimes block their path
and sometimes guide them
into whirlpools
waterfalls
winding streams
through grasses
growing like
ideas taking root
drawing life
from other streams
surged down
by other rock-strewn
flows downhill
slowing
into banks of trees
wider turns
deeper beds
together large
impressive channels
for the intercourse
that frames our days
drawn up delivered
over tended crops
nurtured by the nature
of their source
the shining sea
that draws them in
gathers them as one
then casts them skyward
meaning floating up
like clouds that coalesce
while climbing
into stormclouds
flash and volley
thundering chaotic
cutting loose in torrents
raining down on hilltops
small but high.