One Poem by Lilija Valis

 

POETRY IS NOT A BOOK

 

Literature is not a book.

Our culture is garrulous.

‘How are you?’

is a dangerous question.

 

                     Haida spokesman

         interviewed on the radio

 

Poetry is not a book

a book freezes what once lived

 

     poetry escapes definition

     PhDs are dissecting corpses

 

     poetry is alive and rebellious

     inhabits the most surprising places

 

     prisons and ghetto streets

     as well as literary salons

 

     it rolls off the tongue

     of a stranger in a pub

 

     it travels along highways

     that never reach the horizon

 

poetry is not a book

it’s not prizes or honours

 

     if it's not in your soul

     your longest book will be empty

 

     if it’s in your soul

     it will appear in everything you do

 

     it’s in the speech

     of a kung fu master –

     spare, concise, graceful

   

poetry is not a book

it’s the third eye

 

     the marks on paper and screen

     are just signposts

 

     poetry is behind the words

     it knows no borders

     travels freely

 

     it existed long before

     books were invented and will

     continue long after they disappear

 

poetry is not a book

it’s what opens the book.

Lilija Valis has lived on three continents, in some major cities, including Washington, DC, and San Francisco when there was music in the streets and strangers hugged each other, published in book, literary and e-zine magazines, as well as nine international anthologies, and performed in public libraries, parks, old theatres, pubs, among other places. Asked to step side by COVID until it finishes its performance.