A quote from The Word Gang:
"Poems are like new shoes; one has to wear them a while before deciding if they fit. [...] Then who knows where they may take you."

So wear this one for a while, and I'd love to know what you think of it.


The following poem was quoted in The Word Gang by Mark McKenna and was sited as being found in Selected Poems 1953-1957 by Clarence T. Horton. I looked up the words, and to the best of my ability was able to determine they mean Art Word, or Art of Words, or Word Art/Skill/Craft.

"Ars Verbum"
Words are like snow,
That falls on water and becomes it,
That falls on land and conceals it,
That thickens the air with stars.

No, words are like tools,
Measured and sure and correct.
Safe in a box and ready at hand
To build up, tear down, or reframe.

No, words are like money,
Recounted slowly; or thrown away
With the ease of one
Who will never be rich.

No, words are like bullets
To threaten and scare,
To puncture the bastard
And let out some air.

No, words are like flowers
Wrapped in beauty, tamed;
Or on lonely mountaintops with
Seeds that whisper far into the future.

Between the words: A feather,
The silence of falling.
-Clarence T. Horton