L.L. here, thinking about a poetry conversation that started with David or maybe it was Chris. Soon Glynn answered and now there’s even a “why poetry matters today” writing project dedicated to the subject.
Looking through this week’s RAP offerings I thought the answer to “why poetry” was fairly simple. Poetry is a willing vessel, for pleasure or pain. It is, as I’ve said in a poem called “Verse” from InsideOut…
…marks on tender
skin, bearers of sin,
cool cups of rain
and bottles of tears
collected on midnight
trains from the eyes
of old men, old women
and infants traveling
to God knows where…
In the past few days we’ve needed poetry to bear both our joys and our sorrows. Haiti happened, and regular life and the need to smile also happened. So it seemed fitting to feature poems from both sides of the emotional tracks…
nAncY’s the party
ape
brought an
apricot
camel
brought a pear
zebra
brought
a bagpipe
and walrus
brought a chair
the party started
right a noon
singing
began at three
dancing came
along with the moon
then camel
read poetry
Company Picnic
Ant General assigned
this company to burger buns,
that one to cookies.
Ant Infantry did their duty,
marched under moving food
but grumbled,
What kinda party is this,
anyway?
Milton’s i would like to say something
about the images of buildings lying
flat on top of people, of survivors
sleeping in the streets because
roofs no longer symbolize safety;
about those who sit snugly in
studios and speak for God with
ungodly arrogance and ignorance,
and those who are helping quietly;
about the helplessness that haunts
my heart on nights like this, when
the best I can do is write and wonder
why that’s the best I can do.
ALL RAP PARTICIPANTS
Maureen’s Promise Dreaming and Haiti, 4:53 p.m.
Laura’s Rebirth
Cindy’s Mystery Man
Erica’s Stunted
Katrina’s Poetry to Me
Lorrie’s Abba Abba Ballet
Joelle’s Then Why
Glynn’s The Alligator’s Swamp Jungle Ball
Karen’s Help from Afar
Sunrise Sister’s Squirrel Watching- Riley Style
Monica’s Contagious
Tweetspeak’s Whale Song
Claire’s Yes, You
WHY POETRY?
Come share your answer to this question, for a chance to win a copy of InsideOut and a bottle of Sineann wine at Glynn’s Poetry and Wine: A Giveaway. A few people have already considered the question, beautifully…
A Simple Country Girl’s Blinking-Breathing-Thinking
Helen’s Why Poetry Matters Today
Missy K’s in the comment box: your own story, written by a stranger
Lorrie’s How I Came to Love Poetry
Spider Web photo by Kirsten Michelle. Used with permission. Post by L.L. Barkat.
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I love getting to see through the eyes of others… very nice!
Wonderful contributions this Friday! Thank you.
Good stuff. Love how poetry speaks to the soul.
Ohhhh yes. Poetry and emotions.
I’ve leaned on my journal lately to sort things through, but that Haiti response reminds me how powerful poetry can be. The other samples remind me of how *fun* poetry can be…kind of Ogden Nashish or Edward Lear-like.
The tragedy in Haiti has me thinking just how much this world need poetry–and other expressions of beauty. Speaking of…I see you already linked into Kirsten’ s photostream. Can’t sneak anything past you. Isn’t that one gorgeous?
L.L. – “Verse” is one of my absolute favorites from “Inside Out” so far…
A really eclectic mix. I like it.
Poetry speaks when nothing else can.
Every week is rife with someone’s or some nation’s suffering and this week, especially so.
I didn’t want to read any theologians this week, though I’m sure plenty had something helpful to say. It is the poets who said what I needed to hear, who didn’t turn a blind eye, and who wept with me.
Thank you for this beauty.
The thing I love best about poetry is the way it fits each heart perfectly. The same poem can speak in so many different ways. Each poem is a little nugget – a succinct little treasure waiting to be discovered.
Poetry, for me, is like the breath of fresh air that your lungs digest at the top of the mountain you just climbed. It is deep, clear and freeing…but something that requires the hard work of letting go.
I posted one today, as that is what I had in me…and it was the best way to say where I am.
LL…thanks for this collection, as it ALL touched my soul.