Opening Lines

Does one start a poem 

with a subject or with a line

that comes to mind, not 

knowing if or how it will fit

into a verbal framework?

A subject implies an

approach that finds

words to preserve, praise 

or ploy ass backwards with

ready-made deviations, 

whereas a line is similar

to a working lighthouse at

close range; its wedges of 

radiance and dark take turns

to thwart your field of view.            

Either way, experience and

ample practice are required 

to find or dodge a way in.

It is like tracing the singer in

the reed; we know it is there,

but cannot find it unless we

reinterpret what we perceive.

This too, alas, takes experience 

and practice - along with, of 

course, good old determination.