Friday, May 21, 2010

Poetry... what would I do without You??

"To find ourselves spoken for in art gives dignity to our pain, our anger, our lust, our losses" -Marge Piercy, poet
I really enjoy reading other's poetry. When I do, I find that I'm not in a world all my own. Other people's experience through poetry pulls the curtains back on my own experiences. Exposing things to myself I never truly realized or acknowledged. Partly because I lacked the capacity to define... to name.... IT.... whatever "IT" was. It's an amazing feeling to read somebody else's work and as you're reading it... think "WOW. This is exactly what happened to me. This is exactly how I felt. Is it possible somebody else has experienced this? They're reading from my life. How could this be?" And I think this is the special thing about poetry. That we write to form a CONNECTION. A most human connection. Poetry is humanity in a very raw form. The heart of a poet is a bridge. The heart of poet is hands reaching. The heart of a poet is empathy. It is a voice. For many. Many, many things.