The Meaning of Meaning

I sit down with the intention

to write a poem

this poem, actually

I want a poem to capture for myself

and any who may read it

my take on the essence of the world 

I drift off, eyes slightly unfocused

jaw starting to hang down

maybe in a creative fog

maybe just trying to stay awake

I stare at the clouds through 

the open windows behind the tv

looking for metaphors 

searching for meaning

My thoughts are obliterated

concentration destroyed

the well ordered words I was constructing

fall to ruin

Molly, my daughter, 

all of five years old

runs into the room looking for me

talking at full volume

with gusts of up to 100 words a minute

She misses me and wants me

to come with her and visit the

tent in her playroom

to see how well decorated it is

She also has to let me know

all about the three-legged dog 

she just saw on Animal Planet

and how it had lost its right front leg

holding out her own right arm

and making cutting motions with the left

Mometarilty annoyance rushes through me

my budding creation of words and phrases

dissolved into nothingness

not even remembering where I had planned 

to start--all gone

But then it hits me hard

that poetical epiphany

where before I was searching for meaning

by looking outside my window

and attempting to construct it on my own

I now had that meaning

rush into the room on her own

for the lines I could have created

based on my observation of clouds

cannot compare to the actual living

of life with my family

©2009-Art Belliveau