Preface for a Journal

I make notes –
not by rote –
but by compulsion

like a burst of expression
trailed by reflection

I channel my brain
and use the pen as the extension
to pool my beliefs
and attempt to tackle questions.

Sometimes I fear that my ideas lack comprehension
and debate whether these scribbles
really deserve attention

but my thoughts still skip in strange directions
so I catch them in a journal
to aid my recollections.

Deciphering reality evokes tension
about the words I perhaps
should or should not mention

but here’s my contention –
how do you clock the difference between censorship
and self-correction?

Self-correction refines what is genuine –
censorship is suppression
which indulges deception

and prepares many minds
to imbibe information
all in the name of paternalistic convention

but that’s not my intention –
I just like to craft bars and find delight
from knowing that an image was my invention

or have an audience identify
with what I describe about life
even though the rhymes were meant for introspection

and as for those verses and essays of yesterday
which I tend to cringe at
because of their imperfections

I still hold an affection for them regardless
but these pages of ponderings
must be purged of pretensions

I’m after the human essence
stripped of earthly protection
digging into the wellspring of our perceptions

on occasion it’s onerous
but I have no objections
so long as true visions flow
from these worded projections.

*A previous version of this poem was first published in Notes (2012)