Writing a Duplex (poem)

CD stack
CD stack flickr photo by quinn.anya shared under a Creative Commons (BY-SA) license

A friend in the NWP Studio suggested writing a Duplex Poem (see my understanding of the directions below my poem). I had a theme of wandering woods where winter had changed things by spring.

Landscape: A Duplex Poem

Inspired by Jericho Brown

We rarely know where this trodden trail ends
The land’s shape alters around each bend

This landscape changes beyond every bend
Winter’s fury moved rivers, shifted stones

Winter’s anger lifted rivers, grooved stones
The map on hand arrives folded like metaphor

The map of the land unfolds like metaphor
We read it as a story, and little more

We’ll write it as story, and maybe something more
Quiet in the woods, eyes forward into dark

In the quiet woods, eyes lean towards the dark
Even an explorer knows to expect the unexpected

Every explorer reflects the mirror of the unexpected
I suspect we may never know how this trail ends

(Note: A duplex poem is built on a series of couplets, with the second line of each couplet becoming an echo of the first line of the next couplet. The final line then reflects back to the first line. Or this is how I understand what a Duplex poem is. – K)

Peace (and poems),
Kevin

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