Don Wentworth's Past All Traps

Don Wentworth is well known as the editor of Lilliput Review for more than twenty years and I am thrilled to present a collection of his own poems titled Past All Traps, published by Six Gallery Press. This collection is full of soul, light, meditation, and humor. The majority are written in the Eastern traditions of poetry influenced by poets such as Basho and Issa. The collection is moving and beautiful, it was nearly impossible to narrow it down to just a few to share with you and I hope you find these poems as wonderful as I do:


Stop counting syllables,
start counting the dead.

I like this poem because it reminds us to stop burying ourselves in the details of life that really aren’t important and to look up and notice what real tragedies are taking place.



The Other

I read these words
& I don’t know them.

I wrote these words
& I don’t feel them.

I am read & I have
written & I don’t know.

These words are the words
of another I have borrowed.

We are given words for a
short time. Revel in them.

Make them yours. Soon,
very soon, you will be asked

to give them back.


In this poem, I am reminded of the struggles of being a writer or a public speaker. You may write, speak, prepare, but ultimately there are times where words fail to provoke or because of provocation you are forced to repeat them or “give them back” in some way. It’s a poem that has many layers and meanings and that’s what I love most about poetry. There is always more than meets the eye.




Today, Mr. Grackle,
I smiled & sang like you,
& everyone complained.

This is a funny, light-hearted poem that I can relate to, can’t you? You sing a tune that’s in your mind or in your heart and it doesn’t turn out as beautifully as a professional singer and so your loved ones find it in their heart of hearts to tell you so. Thanks for the grins, Mr. Wentworth!



Every day given
the opportunity to fuck up
--every day.

To this poem I say “YES!” Thanks again, for the grins.



The life of the mind
will be the death
of us all.

Good poem to contemplate, it is not?



If you enjoyed this sample, I urge you to purchase a copy of Past All Traps for yourself for $8.00 which includes shipping and handling through Don Wentworth’s blog at:

http://lilliputreview.blogspot.com/


Thanks always for reading, please click in tomorrow for more Poems Found by Poet Hound…