POETRY

For God’s Sake Stop Using Halcyon in Poems

I’ll never use halcyon in a poem.

It means calm or tranquil, and is almost always followed by the word ‘days,’ as in the halcyon days of summer.

You’ll never hear how trapped miners remained halcyon throughout their ordeal. Nor do safety instructions ever tell you to stay halcyon and proceed in an orderly manner toward the exits.

There’s barely time for poetry during our regular schedules, never mind in the midst of a rising panic, flames chasing us out the window.

Who would use halcyon in a poem when it lies flat upon the anvil of the page, left there by the hammer of verse, its shape beaten from it?

Beaten away to a blue lake where it floats upon a boat of reed, its mythical feathers trailing in the cool water, an open book covering its face.