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.
I definitely agree with you regarding the importance of voice. I like to talk (duh) and write (double duh) but I'm not a big fan of poetry. I've never thought of poetry as my voice. That's an interesting way to put it.
ReplyDeleteI love you, Nikki Raye, no voice and all.
<>< Katie
I think that poetry gives me a voice in that it gives me a way to say things, to draw them out in a way that makes sense. Poetry makes things sound beautiful, even the everyday things. When I write, I hope that when people read my poetry, it resonates with them and they think 'hey, maybe I'm not alone'. I want to make things make sense for others while making them make sense for myself.
ReplyDeleteHere is a marvelous new poem by my new favorite poet. <3
ReplyDeleteClimbing The Chagrin River by Mary Oliver
We enter
the green river,
heron harbor,
mud-basin lined
with snagheaps, where turtles
sun themselves--we push
through the falling
silky weight
striped warm and cold
bounding down
through the black flanks
of wet rocks--we wade
under hemlock
and white pine--climb
stone steps into
the timeless castles
of emerald eddies,
swirls, channels
cold as ice tumbling
out of a white flow--
sheer sheets
flying off rocks,
frivolous and lustrous,
skirting the secret pools--
cradles
full of the yellow hair
of last year's leaves
where grizzled fish
hang halfway down,
like tarnished swords,
while around them
fingerlings sparkle
and descend,
nails of light
in the loose
racing waters.