I've been trying to write this introduction blog since November 19. Its December 7th and I only had a couple of midiocre sentences. I don't know what has been wrong with me and why I haven't been able to just sit down and share my thoughts. Maybe it is because I want to talk about why poetry matters and I'm not 100% what makes it matter. But at the same time I am very sure that poetry is integral in our society and in all of our lives (obviously I am a writer, since I'm being terribly ambiguous right now.) I've been asking myself what it entails to "matter," what makes something important or significant? Does it have to advance our economy or strengthen our reputation? Sometimes I think those motives underlie a lot more of what we are willing to admit, but I think that maybe to some people poetry doesn't matter, that they find their voice in something else, or choose not to have a voice at all.
This is what I think makes poetry truly matter. VOICE. We all recieve from and contribute to this world, intentionally and unintentionally. Poetry is so special because it is taking what you recieve and what is inside of you and contributing to the world. That is why poetry should be shared, that's why it should be voiced.
I woke up this morning with no voice, and that is where all of this is coming from. I can't be heard and I can't contribute to conversations. I can listen, but I can't be fully connected. I've tried to be a part of multiple conversation just today that nobody heard me. I'm pretty dissapointed, losing my voice has come at a bad time. Right now I can only speak at a whisper, and I am supposed to be reciting poetry at a prison tonight. It just insn't going to happen. So as I sit down to think about why poetry matters, this is why. POETRY GIVES ME A VOICE.
I am less without the ability to share who I am and what I think with those around me, its a part of who I am. I think about this day without a physical voice and I wonder what my life would be like if I didn't have poetry. Poetry is speaking in an artful manner--not just a voice but a vehicle to speak with beauty and form and intentionality. So...I will say more on this later as well. But, what I want is to hear some voices...can you post some poetry for me? ....I put Urula stealing Ariel's voice as the picture because this is what my day has been like.
