Open Metaphoric Verse

I believe there is a form of poetry designed to be as open to interpretation as possible. Perchance it's intentional, perchance not...

Take, for example, William Carlos Williams' poem XXII from the book: Spring and All(1923). The poem became later known as The Red Wheelbarrow:

So much depends

upon

a red wheel

barrow

glazed with rain water

beside the white

chickens

The idea here would be that a maximum of readers could infer as wide a range as possible of meanings. This would, in effect, hand out massive audience control over message. After all, the more people who 'get it', the more of a long term audience is built...

You could spot such verse by the sheer magnitude of critiques and summaries written in its wake.

Here's an example I wrote up this evening.

What do you think it means...?

Wandering about the field

in search of weeds.

Weeds being non-existent,

Only flowers catch her eye.

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Duchamp

We wrote a presentation on Marcel Duchamp and his Dadaist ways,

Mike Parks and I. 

Mike hung by a rope from the rafters 

with a football helmet on 

while I spoke from in front of the class,

a biography on the man, 

and threw darts into Mike's thick jacket.  

Our photo montage of breathing through a tube 

while hanging on to the keel of his father's sail boat 

was a big success.

I wish to hell I'd kept the pictures

Nightly Beat poetry, or, The Key

I was writing Beat poetry

about San Francisco...

its rain, 

         its fog,

                 its ocean beaches,

and a girl who once 

           gave me the key to her heart.

We were there where old highway 1

is just aging cracked asphalt,

jutting out of the seaward cliff

as it breaks and tumbles onto shores below.

We stood there on the beach 

and you found a plastic yellow key 

that you said fit your heart.

You gave it to me.

It was the size of my hand, 

and I kept it around my neck 

on an old cotton string.

I kept it around my neck

for the rest of my innocent youth.

Of all our stages,

  Innocence burns most briefly.

And, by the time I understood

the meaning 

of such worldly things 

as Love,

              I couldn't remember

                                               where the girl had gone to

nor what I had done with the key.

She picked up the phone,

held it closely to her ear.

'Happy Anniversary'

she said 

to the dead receiver 

in her hand.

A Stray Thought

I remember
now and then
walking together
through campus
in the autumn.
We would stop
in at the library
and you would
leaf through
Paris Vogue.
 

Listen

Listen,
   I know none of this makes sense to you.
   It doesn't make any sense to me.
   It's horrible.
   It's wrong.
   And it feels like
   there's nothing you can do.
   I also know you're wondering what's going to happen next.

Well,
   You're going to feel really sad for a very long time.
   I wish that wouldn't happen, but it will.

So,
   while that time's going by, this is what we're going to do:

   We're going to keep breathing in,
   and we're going to keep breathing out.
   We'll visit and talk and bring each other food
   so we have something to do by and by.

And,
   we're going to surround ourselves with each other
   and all the ones we love,
   so we're never really alone.
   We're friends and we're family,
   and that's what friends and family are for.

Also...
   The crying will stay for awhile. 
   While we're doing that,
   we'll make a long list of all the good things
   that she gave to us in our lives.

   We'll speak about her often
   because that's a good thing to do.
   And we'll tell each other sweet little stories to remember her by
   while we pass those stories down through the years, forever.

Next,
   We'll make another list.
   This one will be
   about what we think
   that she would want us to do.
  
   Let's make part of that list right now:

   The first thing I think
   she'd want us to do,
   is not keep things hidden inside,
   to tell each other how we feel.
   So if we're feeling bad
   or are hurting too much
   We'll always find someone to talk to.

Now,
   It's going to be really hard.
   But, I promise,
   I'll be there for you
   for as long as you need me to be.

Sometimes,
   Someone else near you
   might be really sad too.
   And you'll feel better
   if you help them feel better
   by listening to them for a while.

Of Course,
   You know she loved you.
   And that's not going away.
   So when you pass it on
   to the ones you love,
   a part of her will stay.

Eventually,
   Better times will come to us,
   through the long days
   by and by.
  
   We won't forget her,
   and we'll always remember
   but we will forget to cry.

   And slowly,
   things will begin to feel normal again

Finally,
   What I'm telling you
   is that you are not alone.

   And, I love you.
   And, I'm here for you.
   And, things are going to get better
   even though nothing makes any sense
   to you and me right now.
 

What I would not give
to remember
small tender moments
spent together.
You with me,
me with you.