Any Room

Poem No. 107

Sometimes a poem wants to be short.

This little poem — only nine syllables long — is the best example of this fact from my own poetry journal:

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Any room
with a book
is my church.

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It’s hard for me to let go of the need to justify this poem as a poem, even to myself. I keep wanting to add more to it, to prove it’s not simply a truism or aphorism.

But it is a poem, at least to me, because it does the two things that matter most to me as a poet.

First, despite my many efforts at making it longer, I cannot find a clearer way to express how I feel about books and what they’ve meant to me in my life. The peace and happiness they’ve brought me. Somehow these eight words capture something enormous and complex, something I otherwise find difficult to express.

Second, this poem taught me something. That’s my favorite part about writing poems — that they often feel like little word visitors from somewhere else, that stop by and share a bit of wisdom while I’m working with them. When a poem is finally done teaching me, I feel a bit better about the world.

And this poem taught me to be less self-conscious about how short my poetry tends to be. That I can give myself permission to push below the syllable floor of haiku, and see what beauty inhabits brevity.

Thanks for reading,
~ A

P.S. — Speaking of short poems! It’s currently February Poetry Adventure — a time of year where I write a lot of short poems. If you’re curious, join us! As long as there are days left in February, it isn’t too late. There’s so much wonderful poetry happening already, just two days in. It’s amazing to see the variety of poems inspired by a single word. Day one was “pajamas”, and I’ve especially enjoyed Jo Vraca’s haiku (yay, short poems!) about Downton Abbey and Tara Connor’s nostalgic meditation on the clothing inhabited by those we love. I’ll be posting my daily poems on Substack Notes, and for the next four weeks, I’ll send out a roll-up article each Friday.

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