Not a Poem

A response to a post in Max Wallis's 'Aftershock'

NOT A POEM

“Poetry is that which arrives at the intellect / by way of the heart." — R. S. Thomas

Stepping into the garden
this summer morning
I write on the scented air
a thank-you letter to a god I don't believe exists.

This tumble of green,
this glare of orange petals,
this blare of white lilies,
these shadows embroidered
on white paths —

this is not 'intellect reached
via the heart'— this is not a poem.