Thursday, April 7, 2011

Courage

This afternoon, I was reading Garrison Keillor's intro to a collection of poems he had put together - Good Poems for Hard Times.  The introduction was fantastic and reminded me why we need poets and good literature - good stories - in our lives.  And how our lives, in general, are good stories if we bear witness to them.  And how, in an age of zippy computers and information overload at our fingertips, the written word can be so refreshing, if we were to just slow down and pay attention.

Here's a little of what Garrison had to say about the meaning of poetry:

"The meaning of poetry is to give courage.  A poem is not a puzzle that you the dutiful reader are obliged to solve.  It is meant to poke you, get you to buck up, pay attention, rise and shine, look alive, get a grip, get the picture, pull up your socks, wake up and die right.  Poets have many motives for writing...but what really matters about poetry and what distinguishes poets from say, fashion models or ad salesmen is the miracle of incantation in rendering the gravity and grace and beauty of the ordinary world and thereby lending courage to strangers. This is a necessary thing."

1 comment:

Jo Mariner said...

Karla - I have so often (and still do) wonder why I bother to "poe". I have been just ignoring this lately and honoring the --- yes, compulsion, --- to write poems. More than anything else, writing poems seems to provoke synergies. Today, after messing around with blogs for a week, managed to post a poem! I sent you the link to the blog. then thought I better have a look at yours to see what you had posted lately. AND you gave me this wonderful confirmation about the importance of poetry. All of electronic whizardry does not explain that you answered my question before you knew I asked it. Love. Jo