HOW DO I …..
S. Samal
How do I measure
the neatness of my
form and expression
the exact precise curve
of my words and idiom
how much the stuff
is real and human?
Whether my voice is heard
or ignored
my message received
and understood
and how I do reach out
to people and audience
of course, I have no
means
like radar or
seismograph
to read and register
the pulse and
vibration.
I wrestle daily
with the intractable
material and medium.
hack my nerve and tendon
how do I know
how fertile or futile
is the quest or game?
Yet, I scribble and sign
on the vast blank
page of the universe
for something
irresistible
and unknowable
moves and goads me
spurs, and ropels me
so I write,
live and levitate
for writing is being
and becoming
to create is to procreate
not mere words or language
but life and legend
leavened by insight and experience
It is blind as love
hypnotic as music
pre-ordained as destiny
intense and agonizing
as birth and dying.