Poem: Free

Free

When did they set rules on the page?

I was here one day where my best work

played in the margins

it didn’t have to be correct

just true

then the silence washed away

all the pain and interplay

of words selected

to cut and bruise.

You don’t critique a child’s drawing,

you’d have to be insane.

When I create I stand beside God

and enjoy the errors

my meter is never right

and I don’t know enjambment

from jam sandwich

as if I had the bandwidth

its literary webbing between my fingers.

A degree can get you far

a degree can call it art

but tell me if you had a front row seat

to a forest fire,

would you want the jpeg

or the experience?

You burn bright because you

have something to say

don’t keep it locked away

in a neat and sectioned chimney;

burn, ignite the passion that

spills into margins, cracks.

Like a whip in a library.

A red pen can’t correct this ink

if it flows like water.

It goes unshortened,

unclipped and undeniably free.

Hemi Croft, living with his wife and family in Perth’s southern coast region, is a former member of the Australian Defence Force who is currently with a leading IT service provider. A writer of poetry, short stories and military history, more can be found about Hemi and his work, including ‘Legion of One’ published in April, here.

Readers’ original and unpublished poems of up to 40 lines can be emailed, with postal address, to [email protected]. Submissions should be in the body of the email, not as attachments. A poetry book will be awarded to each accepted contributor.

Header image: Matheus Farias / Unsplash