This Poem was published in Lyrical Iowa, 1990, by the Iowa Poetry Association
It's the Feeling of Clay
It's the feeing of clay
under your strong fingers
taking shape--
It's the canvas covered
edge to edge with paint
making a three-dimensional picture--
It's the elegance of written word
forming meaning by its existence
appearing on the page--
It's the power of creation,
thought to energy to matter,
by the sweat of the hands--
It's poetry at three in the morning
while the world sleeps
but the mind dreams--
It's adding instead of subtracting,
expression instead of withdrawal,
it is life.