in answer to the question "why write poetry?"

     you sit with your cup of tea
     paper open on the table
     sunlight through the window
     
     but your mind is not with the paper;
     instead it has followed the sun beams
     out into the unfettered day
     
     the words go with you
     or perhaps you go with them
     tracing those thoughts which are
     always just beneath the surface
     
     and if you are lucky, you
     capture some of them out there
     bind them to a blank page
     
     where later, on less sunny days
     they will yield up to you again
     their scents of green grass
     and wandering thoughts
     
     		-acm (4/97)