Poem for Everyone -- John T Wood

Guest poem sent in by Ramesh MV

(Poem #1617) Poem for Everyone I will present you parts of my self slowly if you are patient and tender. I will open drawers that mostly stay closed and bring out places and people and things sounds and smells, loves and frustrations, hopes and sadnesses, bits and pieces of three decades of life that have been grabbed off in chunks and found lying in my hands. they have eaten their way into my memory, carved their way into my heart. altogether - you or i will never see them - they are me. if you regard them lightly, deny that they are important or worse, judge them i will quietly, slowly, begin to wrap them up, in small pieces of velvet, like worn silver and gold jewelry, tuck them away in a small wooden chest of drawers and close. -- John T Wood

      1974

I am not a big connoisseur of poetry, and often have difficulty
distinguishing poetry from prose masquerading as poetry just because one
sentence is in many lines. (Btw, I would love it if someone could actually
tell me how to make this distinction). This poem actually struck me because
of the wonderful use of space. The choice of word-line placement is
remarkable - it actually slowed down my reading speed and made me pause at
times... if not for content, but only for structure and presentation, this
is one of the better poems that I have come across.

Regards,

Ramesh MV

[Links]

Some reviews:
  [broken link] http://www.uiowa.edu/uiowapress/wooinpri.htm

I couldn't find a biography online; if you have a link to one please post it.