Please note, that in the poem below , the words are not mine, but those of, ‘Joshua Maxwell de Hoog’, who has kindly given me permission to reproduce this excerpt from his book “The Good, The Bad & The Poetry”. Joshua is the convener, of the ‘lowercase poetry’ recital events here in Geelong. I’m honoured to be able to present his words on my site, and this piece below, is an excellent example of the style of his writings. For more information and stories about Joshua you may Google his link >>  joshuamaxwell de hoog.com

*

There is no word greater than another,

No word that only sleeps with the

king or is only spoken by the servant,

Or written on walls in the city by

rebellious teens

There is no word that fights in a war

with only fists,

Or sails the sea for love, or with love,

There is no word greater than the

mouth that speaks it.

There is no word more beautiful than

another,

There is no word that is paid to be

listened to, nor begs for attention, or

only cries, or only sleeps, or cries

itself to sleep.

There is no word more beautiful than

the mouth that speaks it.

There are merely words, and every

one of them as important as both the

next and the last, as pressing as

future, present and past, as human as

you, me or us.

And we too,

Are like words,

Sometimes we are together and seem

as if we’ve always been,

As inseparable as to-do or have-been

joined by the dash,

But other times we are distant, we

appear only in the beginning or the

end, or something in between, but

that means no less of us, for we are

still a part of the story, as essential as

any word that has already been

written or the ones that are still in

writing.

There is no word that goes unspoken,

that needs to be.

All things will happen in time, and to

force them, is to skip the most exciting

chapter.

There is no word that runs faster than

another, none that overtake or jump

the queue, all words honour the mind

in which they are from.

There is no word greater than another,

yet I will follow “you”.

*

*  Printed with permission from, Joshua Maxwell de Hoog…..

Ivor Steven (c)  Feb 2020