I Read Poetry Because

I read poetry because I'm scared
of the screams
and yet it's good
to have them articulated...

Good point; I like that.

guttural communication...well stated Josh.  The strength of a few powerful lines can convey so much.

That's true. I still have Mary Oliver's line ... "Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?" ... ringing in my ears. Every time I feel like giving up I quote it to myself, and it gets me going again.

I have a collection of quotes...Mary Oliver's is in it. My go to quote is Anne Lamott "Hope is about choosing to believe this one thing; love is bigger than any grim, bleak, shit anyone can throw at us."

I write poetry for the same reason. Short attention span. Not because of screams. Or guts. No buts no guts no coconuts.

Well there goes the lime I bought!

Yep, essay writing is such a bore.

I love this, Josh. Poetry seems to be the footnotes of an observation or emotion. The highlights of the power points cutting straight to the bone of the matter.

Thank you. Poetry is vital on many fronts. I just came across this quote, which makes a lot of sense to me why I do it. "In the end we go to poetry for one reason, so that we might more fully inhabit our lives and the world in which we live them, and that if we more fully inhabit these things, we might be less apt to destroy both. (Christian Wiman)

I have now started to wonder why I read poetry and why I write it or attempt to - two very good questions :-)

excellent work - it's done it's job :-)

Hi David, than you very much for the feed-back. I think the idea for the poem came from being reminded of doing some psycho-drama in a therapy group many years ago.