Please note, that in the poem below , the words are not mine, but those of, ‘Joshua Maxwell de Hoog’, who has kindly given me permission to reproduce this excerpt from his book “The Good, The Bad & The Poetry”. Joshua is the convener, of the ‘lowercase poetry’ recital events here in Geelong. I’m honoured to be able to present his words on my site, and this piece below, is an excellent example of the style of his writings. For more information and stories about Joshua you may Google his link >> joshuamaxwell de hoog.com
*
There is no word greater than another,
No word that only sleeps with the
king or is only spoken by the servant,
Or written on walls in the city by
rebellious teens
There is no word that fights in a war
with only fists,
Or sails the sea for love, or with love,
There is no word greater than the
mouth that speaks it.
There is no word more beautiful than
another,
There is no word that is paid to be
listened to, nor begs for attention, or
only cries, or only sleeps, or cries
itself to sleep.
There is no word more beautiful than
the mouth that speaks it.
There are merely words, and every
one of them as important as both the
next and the last, as pressing as
future, present and past, as human as
you, me or us.
And we too,
Are like words,
Sometimes we are together and seem
as if we’ve always been,
As inseparable as to-do or have-been
joined by the dash,
But other times we are distant, we
appear only in the beginning or the
end, or something in between, but
that means no less of us, for we are
still a part of the story, as essential as
any word that has already been
written or the ones that are still in
writing.
There is no word that goes unspoken,
that needs to be.
All things will happen in time, and to
force them, is to skip the most exciting
chapter.
There is no word that runs faster than
another, none that overtake or jump
the queue, all words honour the mind
in which they are from.
There is no word greater than another,
yet I will follow “you”.
*
* Printed with permission from, Joshua Maxwell de Hoog…..
Ivor Steven (c) Feb 2020
