Words: something from nothing
Dan calls this Cognitive Alchemy
this combination of disparate threads
into articulations of verse

such miracle of nature, this
system of symbols from gray matter
to black on white – ink on page
page to book – book to library

poets are alchemists
creating gold in crucibles of thought
mining the heart of self and society
for lead and tin and pyrite
from which to blend mystery
and reason, conjecture and fact.

dmpitchford 12/10/23