Magnetized
Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem
“Just as a magnet attracts iron rings and induces in those
rings the power to attract others, so the Muse inspires a
chain of people possessed by divine enthusiasm, and the
rhapsode is the middle link in this chain: first comes the
poet, then the rhapsode, then the audience.”
~ Penelope Murray, Plato on Poetry, 8.
The Muse is like a magnet pulling lines
And words together in the poet’s mind.
The phrases and the words set out the signs
Of poetry. The ancient poet, blind
To daylight and the stars, can see his way
To holiness of stanzas with their dark,
Dark meanings. Godlikeness is in their sway.
He has a deeper vision that is stark
Like blood. Performers feel the magnet of
A rhapsode
The Muse. It pulls the meaning of the verse.
Invisible control prevails above
The vocals like an ambulance or hearse.
The audience is drawn in patterns, too.
The magnet stretches, eerily and true.