In celebration of World Poetry Day (yesterday...oops) I will now rant about poetry. Rejoice.
I love poetry. I wish more people loved poetry. Alas, we live in a world where "reality" shows are the leading form of entertainment and people need everything fed to them in flashing lights competing with all the other flashing lights to be the flashiest lights. Subtlety and sparseness are not exactly the tickets to success these days. And stillness. And effort. It seems that people aren't patient enough to sit with something, think about it, imagine what it could mean, parse out the sound, the images, the feelings it evokes. Instead, we instantly react, critique, bully, and boost ourselves by beating down others.
On initial glance, poetry doesn't seem to fit our culture anymore. But if I love reading it, wouldn't you imagine others take delight in it? Maybe people could find respite from this crazy world in poems. Maybe poetry could do more to create those pauses and that space for real reflection to happen, like it does for me. Maybe that could somehow reintroduce the idea of real thinking into our society. Maybe people would develop that skill of thought and start to dig one layer into what they see, read, and hear to understand how to determine its truth and value. Wouldn't that make people better and in turn, communities better? Pshaw.
This morning my colleague mentioned a version of an "art CSA" that the local arts council is sponsoring. Similar to organic farm CSAs, where you sign up to receive boxes of locally grown produce throughout the season, the arts version provides you with locally created works of art. In total, you get nine pieces of visual art throughout the year. Brilliant!
I envision a poetry version. Maybe it's new poems by local poets, or maybe it's more of a curation thing like this blog, or maybe the focus is encouraging amateur writers to take up the pen and create something. I know it's a barely formed idea and a pipe dream at best, but at least I have a name.
We'll call it "Poetry to Make America Think Again."
This morning my colleague mentioned a version of an "art CSA" that the local arts council is sponsoring. Similar to organic farm CSAs, where you sign up to receive boxes of locally grown produce throughout the season, the arts version provides you with locally created works of art. In total, you get nine pieces of visual art throughout the year. Brilliant!
I envision a poetry version. Maybe it's new poems by local poets, or maybe it's more of a curation thing like this blog, or maybe the focus is encouraging amateur writers to take up the pen and create something. I know it's a barely formed idea and a pipe dream at best, but at least I have a name.
We'll call it "Poetry to Make America Think Again."
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