2019 Q1 FEATURED POET: GREG URBAITIS
THIS QUARTER, WE ASKED OUR POETS WHAT POETRY MEANS TO THEM. READ GREG’S WINNING RESPONSE BELOW.
POETRY & ME
Poetry didn’t come easy to me. It wasn’t what I first started focusing on. Oh yes, I tried it, but I just couldn’t get it. And I thought about the Miles Davis quote “Man, if you have to ask what jazz is, you’ll never know.”
I think it’s because I tried too hard. I didn’t just let it come naturally. Poetry needs to flow out of your soul like blood through your veins. While you can study the greats, while you can try and emulate them, you’ll never get the beauty of a red wheelbarrow by the white chickens if you think too much.
The funny thing is I studied jazz, and I didn’t get that either – not fully. Then I started listening to recordings of the Beat Poets reading to jazz. And it made sense. Both are the rhythm of the soul. I had to let go of my fore-mind and trust myself to express myself.
I started an open mic poetry night, where I played upright bass along with friends on Cajon and sax behind the readers. That opened my mind to what poetry really is. It’s riffing on emotion, it’s expanding a theme, it’s being in tune with not only the words you want to say but the way you put them together, and let it come out of you with passion and conviction. In jazz they say you can never play a wrong note if the next one is right, and that’s the way poetry is at its best – you throw something out there that needs to be said, and turn those words into a pattern that is universal to the listener.
Poetry combines all the arts into one glorious moment. It’s a painting that in its singularity captures a feeling. It’s a short story that tells a tale. It’s a melody that sticks in your mind. It’s the dance of your spirit. It’s the beauty of a simple phrase that means so much, like ‘I love you.’ It’s a way to encapsulate all your feelings into a few lines, and share those feelings with others.
Once you’re able to grasp that and feel that you’ll never stop. You will have learned another way of expressing yourself to the world.
And from that moment on you’ll read the words of other poets, hear the things they’re saying, feel the things they’re feeling, and know you’re part of something grander.
All from a few little words.
GREG’S POEM ‘LIGHT THROUGH AN OPEN DOOR’ CAN BE FOUND ON PP. 18-20 OF THE QUARTERLY.
CLICK BELOW TO HEAR IT READ BY GREG IN THE STYLE OF THE BEAT POETS READING TO JAZZ.
FULL TEXT OF THE POEM BELOW.
LIGHT THROUGH AN OPEN DOOR
The door opens
And in she walks
Crazy-haired
Wide-eyed smile
Captivating
Magnetized
Beauty wrapped
Around a life
That trickles out
Each time she speaks
But trickle only
(It won’t flow
She holds the water
Keeps them back)
Still there’s enough
To get you wet
To drench you
Drown you
Make you wish
That you could swim
Inside her life
And be reborn
As if baptized
She lets you just
Get your feet wet
To splash around
Like kids at play
A sprinkler
On
A summer’s day
Who dance around
In their bare feet
Who laugh and scream
Out yelps of joy
Each time the
Water
Hits their skin
A simple
Sweet
Wonderful
Feeling
Like Koolaid ice
From a plastic cup
Or
Mr. Bubble
Drifting from
The kiddie pool
Those wafting
Suds
Of magic white
That make
A summer’s day
So
Bright
And time
It stops
Till bright daylight
Begins to fade
To summer’s night
And mothers
Say
The time has come
For it to end
Time to go home
She’s just like that
She’s simple magic
Creates a longing
To hold on
As best you can
But just like those
Innocent days
She slips away
Like day to night
With nothing promised
Nothing more
And in a blink
Of sparkled eye
The door is closed
Greg Urbaitis
Greg Urbaitis is an author whose stories have appeared in magazines such as The New Southern Fugitives, Poetry Motel and Caprice. His One Act Play “Uncovered” recently ran at The Darkhorse Theatre. Greg hosted "A Night For Fugitive Poets", winner of The Nashville Scene's 'Best New Poetry Night'. He is also an accomplished musician, having played for various artists from Dolly Parton to The Queers.