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This site exists for one purpose only: to help dispel the ugly and absolutely untrue myth that poetry is boring. Granted, a lot of poetry is boring, but you won't find it here. At Your Daily Poem, you'll find poetry that is touching, funny, provocative, inspiring, uplifting, and surprising. It may punch you in the gut, it may bring tears to your eyes, it may make you laugh out loud, but it most assuredly will not bore you!

Poetry on YDP—by poets living and long dead, famous to completely unknown--is specially selected for accessibility and appeal. Thanks so much for visiting—and remember: a poem a day keeps the doldrums away!

Lilac
by
Jeff Burt

Clay, loess, soil, mica—
it’s all dirt when a shoe
drops deposits in your house
or the dog escapes you
at the door and races over
carpet and rug, then returns
to the outdoors as if to say
what’s out should be in
and what’s in should be out.
You sink, the bellows
of your chest fully deflate,
your ribs the naked keel of a boat.

You breathe in, and there it is--
lilac, scent having crept around
the corner and surprised you,
lilac, like a childhood
friend you’d forgotten
suddenly standing at the door,
lilac--you take a full draft,
intoxicate quickly, skip
to pick a single sprig,

then another, another,
placing one in each room
in glass, vase, or vial,

giddy to know in the middle
of the night you will find yourself
nose over lilac.

© by Jeff Burt.
Used with the author's permission.

Jeff Burt lives on the Central Coast of California with his wife. He has worked in electronics and mental health administration. Jeff claims to have learned about never-ending energy from his grandchildren, and about perpetual motion opportunities from his Labrador; he is grateful for both. You can see more of Jeff's work here, and learn more about him at http://www.jeff-burt.com.

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