Angele Toomey Poetry

That’s a great question! A poet is an artist whose medium is words – the patterns, sounds, rhythms, conventions, and meanings. We paint pictures with our words, convey messages through the following or breaking of the rules and conventions. And like all artists our job is to elicit a reaction. Whether that reaction is to think, feel or act, we are navigating the space us. Make no mistake, the platform we create also creates a privileging of our voices.

It was thinking about the nature of poetry and the job of the poet that kicked off the writing of this poem. Spoiler Alert: it doesn’t resolve the issue of the privilege that our platform affords us.

I am

I am a manipulator of words

An amateur magician

My sleight of phrase the spell I cast

As I try to draw you in.

I reside in a parallel universe

Searching for the means to survive

Creating a light in the darkness

As I try to make you realise.

I am a breaker of codes

who thinks I can command

Words in the correct combinations

That will make you understand.

I am a long distance lover

A voice travelling down the line

I cannot touch you or see you

But I will try to make you sigh.