Ars Poetica
Archibald MacLeish
A poem should be palpable and mute
As a globed fruit,
Dumb
As old medallions to the thumb,
Silent as the sleeve-worn stone
Of casement ledges where the moss has grown ¾
A poem should be wordless
As the flight of birds.
*
A poem should be motionless in
time
As the moon climbs,
Leaving, as the moon releases
Twig by twig the night-entangled trees,
Leaving, as the moon behind the
winter leaves,
Memory by memory the mind ¾
A poem should be motionless in
time
As the moon climbs.
A poem should be equal to:
Not true.
For all the history of grief
An empty doorway and a maple leaf.
For love
The leaning grasses and two lights above the
sea ¾
A poem should not mean
But be.
Archibald
MacLeish (1892-1982)