Over at DIY MFA we had A Day for Poetry which got me thinking about my love-hate relationship with poetry. I only ever read the odd poem, probably only reading a handful each year. Yet when I stumble across a poem where the words dance and phrases sing I absolutely fall in love.


Later she will walk
the dust, a scarlet girl
with her whole stripped skin
at her heel, stuck like an old
shoe sole or mermaid's tail

- excerpt from 6 August, 1945 by Alison Fell


I want them to waterski
across the surface of a poem
waving at the author's name on the shore.

- excerpt from Introduction to Poetry by Billy Collins


When the sun
Shines through the leaves of the apple-tree,
When the sun
Makes shadows of the leaves of the apple-tree,
Then I pass
On the grass
From one leaf to another,
From one leaf to its brother,
Tip-toe, tip-toe!
Here I go!

- Twinkletoes by A. A. Milne


It's in the arch of my back,
The sun of my smile,
The ride of my breasts,
The grace of my style.
I'm a woman

- excerpt from Phenomenal Woman by Maya Angelou


Poetry will speak to each of us differently and that's part of the magic. It is a turn of phrase, a clash of images, a progression or repetition that sparks something inside us. I find images incredibly inspiring for story ideas and now that I've spent just a little more time reading some inspiring poems I realise they do the same. There are many ways that poems can be interpreted, joined with other ideas to form something new. Poetry can open our mind, our muse and our eyes to new thoughts and send us running and rolling down hill to something exciting.

I'd love to hear what poems you love and if you'd like to find more try Famous Poets & Poems and Best New Zealand Poems.