One Writer's Life -- Barbara Mountjoy

Poetry is not my forte. I can write an 80,000 word novel more easily than a meaningful 10 line poem. One of the best aspects of writing poetry, however, is learning to use words sparingly, to pick your images and flesh them out with exactly the right descriptive words. One of my favorite examples is the score to “Phantom of the Opera” with Charles Hart’s lyrics to Andrew Lloyd Webber’s music. The words to such tunes as “Music of the Night” are carefully selected and crafted to drench the listener/reader in imagery. We should all aspire to such heights.

Here is one poem I had published in a small literary magazine a number of years ago.

Winter Day

Winter trees
Dried black skeletons
Line the ridgetop
Like movie Indians menacing

Stark gray skies
Frigid squall drives
ponderous black clouds
as winter storm approaches

Cabin windows rattle
icy pellets tapping panes
Huddle close to crackling fire
Bubbling stew holds cold at bay


This is a link to a poem published in a beautiful e-zine called Moondance, another example of my work. (Link deleted because of malware infection on that page; it's a pity. It WAS beautiful.)