Blue Mountain Arts Poetry Contest

Life Is Good Poetry
by Gustavo Enrique Delgado

Twenty-SEVENTH Contest
SECOND Place

There is a moment
Right before the poet speaks
His hands clenched, his body tensed
The very fabric of his existence
Tied to the sheet of loose-leaf before him
It is in this moment that everyone sits
Waiting patiently to hear
Whether before them a masterpiece will unfold 
Or another wretched poem
It's a time of hushed breaths and whispered tones
Like dusk at a graveyard

Some don't pay attention
They ponder things greater and lesser than the poet
The girl in the back is thinking about her cellphone
The boy on the right is cracking his knuckles, dreading the bus ride home
Yet when the poet speaks
When the silence finally breaks, they wander to him

They bend like palm trees in a rainstorm
His voice, although hoarse from the cold
Tells a tale that they can feel
Yet they don't hear him exactly
But they listen, and they connect their ideas, their thoughts to him
And like a web, a spell, threads of thoughts form

And when the poem draws to a close
When the rain stops, again there is a hush
A hush like a priest after his sermon
When they all wonder how they came to this moment
How something so beautiful could have ended
And they applaud with all they have
Knowing the poet has given part of himself with his poetry

And the young pimple-faced teenager blushes
He hurries to his seat abashed
Feeling a warmth in his stomach
Knowing that this is what life is
Life is good poetry