Phantom Pantoum

The poet and blogger Minerva often tosses out poetic challenges on her blog:

http://www.blogger.com/profile/17803450940250232122

No long ago she challenged writers to try a pantoum, so I took the challenge.


Phantom Pantoum

From the reeds of memory's marsh,
The phantom pantoum speaks itself.
It isn't owned by anyone.
It is composed of gathered sounds.

The phantom pantoum speaks, itself
An act of filling up a page or pause.
It is composed of gathered sounds.
It is a thing that's said and made.

An act of filling up a page or pause
May satisfy the phantom pantoum.
It is a thing that's said and made
But not one, maybe, that's heard or seen.

"May satisfy the phantom pantoum":
That is not a bold assertion,
Nor one, maybe, that's heard and seen.
The phantom pantoum's like a dream.


Hans Ostrom, Copyright 2009