Thanks Gary. I could not agree with you more about the final statement.
Poetry is organic and grows and changes ,and it should, but it should always
acknowledge and respect its origins. Arthur.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Gary Blankenship" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, December 03, 2002 3:41 PM
Subject: Re: What is poetry?
I like to believe that all of us or at least most of us write poetry
because we are called to do so. The call is siren and irresistible. We are
called to protect, sustain and nurture this most ancient art. We are kin to
the visual artist, the musician, the dancer, the novelist and no less than
they. Some of you may shrink from such an idea of the art form being of the
spirit but in your hearts I think you know well that it is. We are guardians
and acolytes.
Arthur, Lucille Clifton said it best (in Bill Moyer's The Language of Life):
Poetry began when somebody wandered off a savanna or out of a cave and
looked up at the sky with wonder and said, ‘Ah-h-h.’ That was the first
poem.
We are still the same children as that first person or maybe pre-person.
Thanks for the thoughts.
Gary
who by the way does believe that not only does poetry have a history, but we
should read and understand the history to appreciate this thing we do in
this century
Nov Sharon Svendsen at: http://gardawg.homestead.com/gardawg.html Writer's
Hood at http://www.writershood.com/ Poets for Peace. ˇPoemas sí, balas no!
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