http://www.wordnik.com/lists/poetrie-the-poems-i-have-not-written.xml by John Brehm <br /> <br />I’m so wildly <a href="/words/unprolific">unprolific</a>, the poems <br />I have not written would <a href="/words/reach">reach</a> <br />from here to the California <a href="/words/coast">coast</a> <br />if you laid them end to end. <br /> <br />And if you <a href="/words/stack">stack</a>ed them up, <br />the poems I have not written <br />would <a href="/words/sway">sway</a> like a silent <br /><a href="/words/Tower of Babel">Tower of Babel</a>, saying nothing <br /> <br />and everything in a thousand <br />different tongues. So <a href="/words/moving">moving</a>, so <br />filled with and emptied of <a href="/words/suffering">suffering</a>, <br />so <a href="/words/steeped">steeped</a> in the music of a <a href="/words/voice">voice</a> <br /> <br /><a href="/words/speechless">speechless</a> before the <a href="/words/truth">truth</a>, <br />the poems I have not written <br />would <a href="/words/break">break</a> the <a href="/words/heart">heart</a>s of every <br />woman who’s ever left me, <br /> <br />make them eye their husbands <br />with a sharp <a href="/words/contempt">contempt</a> and hate <br />themselves for turning their backs <br />on the very source of beauty. <br /> <br />The poems I have not written <br />would <a href="/words/compel">compel</a> all other poets <br />to ask of God: "Why do you <br />let me live? I am <a href="/words/worthless">worthless</a>. <br /> <br />please strike me dead at once, <br /><a href="/words/destroy">destroy</a> my works and <a href="/words/cleanse">cleanse</a> <br />the earth of all my <a href="/words/ghastly">ghastly</a> <br /><a href="/words/imperfection">imperfection</a>s." Trees would <br /> <br />bow their heads before the poems <br />I have not written. "Take me," <br />they would say, "and turn me <br />into your pages so that I <br /> <br />might live forever as the ground <br />from which your words <a href="/words/arise">arise</a>." <br />The wind itself, about which <br />I might have written so <a href="/words/eloquently">eloquently</a>, <br /> <br />praising its <a href="/words/slick">slick</a> and <a href="/words/intersecting">intersecting</a> <br />rivers of air, its <a href="/words/stately">stately</a> calms <br />and furious <a href="/words/interrogation">interrogation</a>s, <br />its <a href="/words/flutelike">flutelike</a> <a href="/words/lingering">lingering</a>s and passionate <br /> <br /><a href="/words/reproof">reproof</a>s, would <a href="/words/divert">divert</a> its course <br />to <a href="/words/sweep">sweep</a> down and then pass over <br />the poems I have not written, <br />and the life I have not lived, the life <br /> <br />I’ve <a href="/words/failed">failed</a> even to <a href="/words/imagine">imagine</a>, <br />which they so perfectly <a href="/words/describe">describe</a>. http://www.wordnik.com http://www.wordnik.com/words/unprolific Mon, 03 Nov 2008 13:48:10 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/unprolific http://www.wordnik.com/words/reach Mon, 03 Nov 2008 13:47:59 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/reach http://www.wordnik.com/words/coast Mon, 03 Nov 2008 13:47:58 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/coast http://www.wordnik.com/words/stack Mon, 03 Nov 2008 13:47:56 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/stack http://www.wordnik.com/words/sway Mon, 03 Nov 2008 13:47:54 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/sway http://www.wordnik.com/words/tower of babel Mon, 03 Nov 2008 13:47:47 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/tower of babel http://www.wordnik.com/words/moving Mon, 03 Nov 2008 13:47:44 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/moving http://www.wordnik.com/words/suffering Mon, 03 Nov 2008 13:47:38 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/suffering http://www.wordnik.com/words/steeped Mon, 03 Nov 2008 13:47:36 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/steeped http://www.wordnik.com/words/voice Mon, 03 Nov 2008 13:47:34 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/voice http://www.wordnik.com/words/speechless Mon, 03 Nov 2008 13:47:25 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/speechless http://www.wordnik.com/words/truth Mon, 03 Nov 2008 13:47:22 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/truth http://www.wordnik.com/words/break Mon, 03 Nov 2008 13:47:13 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/break http://www.wordnik.com/words/heart Mon, 03 Nov 2008 13:47:11 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/heart http://www.wordnik.com/words/contempt Mon, 03 Nov 2008 13:47:10 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/contempt http://www.wordnik.com/words/compel Mon, 03 Nov 2008 13:47:01 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/compel http://www.wordnik.com/words/worthless Mon, 03 Nov 2008 13:46:58 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/worthless http://www.wordnik.com/words/destroy Mon, 03 Nov 2008 13:46:52 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/destroy http://www.wordnik.com/words/cleanse Mon, 03 Nov 2008 13:46:50 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/cleanse http://www.wordnik.com/words/ghastly Mon, 03 Nov 2008 13:46:44 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/ghastly http://www.wordnik.com/words/imperfection Mon, 03 Nov 2008 13:46:41 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/imperfection http://www.wordnik.com/words/arise Mon, 03 Nov 2008 13:46:33 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/arise http://www.wordnik.com/words/eloquently Mon, 03 Nov 2008 13:46:32 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/eloquently http://www.wordnik.com/words/slick Mon, 03 Nov 2008 13:46:28 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/slick http://www.wordnik.com/words/intersecting Mon, 03 Nov 2008 13:46:26 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/intersecting http://www.wordnik.com/words/stately Mon, 03 Nov 2008 13:46:19 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/stately http://www.wordnik.com/words/interrogation Mon, 03 Nov 2008 13:46:17 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/interrogation http://www.wordnik.com/words/flutelike Mon, 03 Nov 2008 13:46:14 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/flutelike http://www.wordnik.com/words/lingering Mon, 03 Nov 2008 13:46:11 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/lingering http://www.wordnik.com/words/reproof Mon, 03 Nov 2008 13:46:08 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/reproof http://www.wordnik.com/words/divert Mon, 03 Nov 2008 13:46:05 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/divert http://www.wordnik.com/words/sweep Mon, 03 Nov 2008 13:46:00 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/sweep http://www.wordnik.com/words/failed Mon, 03 Nov 2008 13:45:58 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/failed http://www.wordnik.com/words/imagine Mon, 03 Nov 2008 13:45:56 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/imagine http://www.wordnik.com/words/describe Mon, 03 Nov 2008 13:45:53 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/describe