poetry

This is actually a letter I wrote, but I think I aught to share, not that anyone reads this crap...but I thought it was interesting.....

As you probably know "poesis" in the original greek means "to create." The idea is that, at least for your disciple Plato, that poetry is dangerous because it isn't grounded in the real, not in reality. Poetry creates for itself new truths. These truths can control men and therefore are dangerous to the republic, in plato's model.

But the idea is that poetry creates by outlining something never seen before in the real, it is a poesis that draws some figure in the essence of reality and presents itself as truth, a truth, something present but not visible until it is outlined by poetry. For me, poetry is that act. It is a verb, it requires action. It is a constant creation, a birth of something new from the void of the now. The writing of the poem, the reading of the poem, each act is an act of creation.

So what is poetry, the question seems to remain unanswered, but perhaps it is a question in itself. Poetry is seeing what was before unseen and "creating it" by bringing it to the light of day, to the eyes and hearts and minds of others, maybe even the self. Great poems show us what there could be, what there is if you look for it, they aren't documentaries. They are the play on the surface of reality. Yet they go much deeper. They are the essence of truth living that is attempted to be captured by the poem.

Poetry for me isn't just a couplet or a sonnet, poetry is the act of reading the text and thus reading the word. It is the freedom of the word to play, to shift, to dance. Of seeing something new or even seeing the object in its entirety, beyond the superficial. Music has a poetry to it, the gaps in sound, the dissonance of some notes make it beautiful, it creates in the "void of presence". Food can be poetic, the explosion of flavours off the pallet makes us understand the beauty and enjoyment in the simplest of acts. For example again, the poetry of the human body. For me, one of the most beautiful forms is that of the human body. Dancing is a moving poetry of that form. The human body with all its shapes realised, seen for what they are is beauty and poetry.

Again in the human figure, the way you say something, your accent, the way you toss your hair, your smile, the twinkling of the eye, the glance back, each act maybe just an act, but then there is a poetic subtext that you can see only when you take a step back.

Poetry in literature and the word itself is just as strong. However poetry doesn't draw a box around something, because it is a creation it is always transient, wild as the wind, shifting in shape as the eyes and ears and hands of a new person touch it and experience it.

Poetry makes life worth living. It allows us, if only for a second to free ourselves from the banality of life, the repetition and boredom that overcomes us with such a monotonous existence. It doesn't ask us for our production numbers or rebuke us for poor performance. It celebrates our mere existence. It perhaps makes our existence seem like something wonderful, unique, yet at the same time it allows us to see the continuous human experience-- that project we are all born into as members of our race, yet it slips out of sight as we get into the monotony of each day. It awakens us to the wonder of our own existence. So often we lead our lives for other people, we become slaves to them, we becomes tools, items, objects. But poetry, the great paradox, allows us to live for a moment for ourselves, to discover the wonder of our existence, but at the same time awaken and enliven us to the bonds that hold men together. We all are a group of individuals, this planet is filled with so many facets, counting would be impossible and it is that collective experience that is awoken in poetry. Our collective individuality. The uniqueness of being. The experience of uniqueness.

I don't know if that satisfies your question. There is so much to say, that could and can be said about this topic, but those are my current thoughts. Let me know how you feel? What do you think?