beginning and end in words posted by imani , Wednesday, January 25, 2012 at 9:42 PM, in Labels: freefall

my love affair with words began a long time ago - back when i was barely a teenager, back when i was still trying to make sense of what was happening in my existence, back when i didn't have you.

i have always found solace in words, in poetry. when i was younger, reading bits of william shakespeare and robert burns helped me a whole lot in improving my vocabulary, but i had one problem - i was stuck in 'meter.' or shall i say, the incessant feeling that poetry is not poetry without rhyme.

but when i got older, i had the exposure to poets like pablo neruda (which is a staple, any reader should, one way or another, have the chance to read his poems), miguel hernandez, sylvia plath and diane ackerman. locally, we have been gifted with the verse and magic of ophelia a. dimalanta and ricardo m. de ungria. these poets have proven time and again, that an occasional rhyme would not kill a good material, and that free flowing verse is not a hindrance for someone to create a cornucopia of thoughts that will give us something strange, extraordinary and illuminated.

there have been times i strayed from writing - not necessarily poetry. there have been instances i allowed myself to get caught up in work, ending up exhausted, that i lost the slightest energy to update my journal or my datebook.

one such languor was broken when i promised my lifetime that i will write her a sonnet for every day that we are apart. it used to be a painstaking process - knowing that i am consciously counting the number of nights i have succumbed to slumber without her beside me. however, at present, the 'exercise' taught me how to appreciate what we do for each other more than ever - she, getting herself preoccupied so the sadness won't get to her, and i, proving her that she is more than reason for me to pick up my pen and let my thoughts spill on paper.

today i have realized that the average life span of a poetry notebook is about 6 months. it has been that long since i started writing and more than being a proof of pain or absence, it now reminds me just how much love we have between us. regardless of what has come and gone, of what we had to give up and what we gained - we are both still here, one the muse and the other the poet. this is for you - my light and love.