scribbles

substance over form

I scribble words down to explore what seems true,
and I spend little effort forcing hand and pen
into precision of shape of letter,
 I want what’s in my head and heart
to shape itself enough in words that I can remember it,
and the shape seems furtive as it attempts to slip away,

it can take me awhile to decipher what I’ve written,
as the writing seems more of scribbles than of care,

when the shape of a letter means a lot to me
I lose myself in form and substance slips further away,

almost like the knock on the door Coleridge heard.

by Henry Walker
July 31, ’12