Freedom Rings Out
like
great owls
fiercely mourn
the passing of
rodents while
whippoorwills
(that goatsucker!)
proclaim their fame
woodpeckers stuttering an
unhampered, hammered rhythm
as frogs coldly
croak

About the Poem

This poem is from my online collection Software for the Head Node. I wrote it in 1980. At that time I didn't "recognize" it as a shape poem. I mean, I wrote it in pencil on plain, lined notebook paper in my loose-leaf poetry journal. Several years later (1988) I had obtained an IBM PC and a really good word processing program, I think it was CPT. I needed some practice with the software, and looked around for something to type in. I grabbed my poetry notebook and started typing up my poems. This one was one of the first. After I had keyed it in, I started playing around with formatting: italics, font face and size changes. I then selected the entire poem and hit "CENTER". The shape above emerged. The shape made the poem's metaphor literal: the very definition of "shape" or "concrete" poetry.

I was completely startled by the result. I mean, not only is it a recognizable shape, but that shape (bell) so perfectly complements the sense, tone, language and meaning of the poem!

And like I said, I didn't design it this way--it just happened! Like it was meant to, like it was hiding in there for years, patiently waiting to escape.

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