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Expansion

It’s always bittersweet to come to the end of another poetry hoot season.  We will miss the monthly exchange from featured poets and the exceptional diversity and energy of the open mic.  And yet, Tom Daley and Liz Ahl featured brilliantly – giving us more than enough to carry us through the summer and the open mic continued to surprise with new readers, new voices and new ideas.  One open-mic reader, Ashley Davis Prend, gave us a poem about new beginnings, growth, and the wonder (and question marks) that lie ahead.  Her visually structured poem speaks to the breaking out of structure, moving from our usual “predictable patterns” to new “passionate planes” by the end.  This poem is strong in its use of alliteration to make particular phrases step forward to our ears.  I especially like that she ends with a question mark.  This expansion is not a sure thing; it seems positive, “inventively vibrant”, yet there is uncertainty.  We are excitedly anticipating another spectacular hoot season starting in September and also wonder, who will be there, what will we hear and learn from them, will it be you?

  -- Lesley Kimball

Expansion

 Spreading out of the confines of

            predictable patterns,

            boxes stacked on boxes,

            life planned, known

A rumble, an invisible earthquake

            shaking core realities,

            foundations cracked, unseen

            debris tossed violently

Vertical light shot through and out

            filling new boundaries,

            frame molding pushed to

            passionate planes, inventively vibrant?

                            — Ashley Davis Prend

"Expansion” copyright 2007 by Ashley Davis Prend.   Ashley Davis Prend is a psychotherapist in Portsmouth, a writer, a singer, and a radio talk show host.