readergirlz writing contest (2): the story song winner (2)

The second winner of the readergirlz story song contest is Rachel L., who brought us a lyric called "Strength."

Strength

To stand as stone; to sing as wind.
To call your name; to let me in.

With flame and ice and skin aglow,
Those eyes that crackle; those tears like snow.

The heart that’s stronger
Than the oak’s wide frame;
The lips that call

And those that came.


Choreography Explanation: When I get an idea for a piece of writing, usually it comes in the form of a single image. Then I take the image and do what I can to sketch it out and transfer it to the reader’s mind. Once I found my image, my strategy for this poem was vagueness. I wanted the words I wrote to conjure up an image in the reader’s head and perhaps a feeling that went with it, but I didn’t want it to be the same thing that came into my head. I endeavored to take my image and just lightly brush around it with my finger, enough that the reader has an outline of my thought, but there are thousand possibilities of what I could have meant. My meaning is mine alone, and your interpretation makes the poem yours too.