I often hear the question, “why write?” Thousands of bloggers ask this question everyday. The answers are all over the map. My answer is normally, “I write because I have stories to tell.”
That make sense for a story-teller, but these days I think of myself as a poet and the answer doesn’t completely fit. Poetry isn’t always about telling a story. Some poems are stories. However, some poems are just about feelings, an image, or a question without the resolution of a story. Why tell those? Why sit at a keyboard and extract from your brain a series of lines that link to form that strange art of a poem?
It begs the question, what is art?
There are a million answers to that. This week I was reminded of James Baldwin’s answer when he said, “The purpose of art is to lay bare the questions that have been hidden by the answers.”
I am always a bit amused when someone presents me with the “answer,” because often the answer simply leads to more questions, more answers, and more questions.
Years ago I was taking an art appreciation class where the instructors had us discuss the question, what is art? It was one of those discussions that brought up more questions than answers. Does art have to be beautiful? Does it have to be pleasing? Should music be melodious? What about art that makes you angry? What about dissonance in music – is that art? What is it about the various forms of art that attract or repel us?
In the end the class settled on this as a definition of art:
“Art is that which causes an emotional response.”
Which brings me back to what is a poem? Combining both Baldwin and my art class’s response one might say that a poem is an answer that asks a question that invokes a feeling. But that won’t be the whole story. I have found poems to be elusive, flighty, and difficult to capture in the confines of the written word. Running around my mind at any one time are a million fragments of a poetic puzzle.
There’s the image of homeless man standing on the corner.
There’s the mother crying at the grave.
There’s the cloud floating overhead.
There’s the smell of urine on the sidewalk.
There’s the smoke from the distant fire.
There’s the sadness of the broken wine bottle.
There’s the happiness of the balloon tied to the toddler’s wrist.
These feelings, smells, images, colors, and sounds swim, float, appear, and disappear in my consciousness. Sometimes they collide into an explosion of words that become a poem. Sometimes I reach into the swirling cloud and try to pull out a poem. Sometimes that works. Sometimes it doesn’t. I am beginning to learn that it isn’t always the poet’s choice.
The current example in my writing is my lectionary project where I am trying to write a poem for 49 different sections of the book of Matthew. In the three months I’ve been working on this, I’ve completed just five poems. Into my mind I’ve poured the Bible passage, commentaries, a bit of prayer, and meditation and then I reach in and try to pull out an emotional reaction to the words.
Often I miss the mark and end up just retelling the story or paraphrasing the words. Only five times have I been able to do what I wanted to do with the words of the scripture. My poetry is a slow process. The blending takes time for the flavors to defuse throughout the whole process.
Which brings us back to the beginning and the question why do I write poetry? I write it because I am a poet.
I am a poet because poems are seeking to question the answers we know.
Peace,
Andrew
Andrew's View of the Week 
delighted to read sir!
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Thank you!
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Helo I am new on wordpress. I write poems.. it would be great if you check out my page. Thankyou
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Wrote half a chapter. Tried to post and because I use auto log on and didn’t remember the password it vanished. Basically I’m reminded of James 2:14. With faith and His Spirit your poetic interpretations will spill from the ink well. 😃
If this is shared twice it’s another gaffe on my part.
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Thank you for your kind words.
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You make it easy to start and hard to shut up period..I mean it I’m done.. Just got to slap the 📪..
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It’s like Michelangelo said (it’s probably a paraphrase really…), “I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.” But with words.
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I like that!
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Fascinating! I think that of all the arts, poetry expresses emotion the most effectively, and your poems definitely do that.
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I think that’s why I am drawn to poetry as an art expression – I can do it with words better than with a drawing. It’s different for others, your milage may vary, past results are an indication of future performance, etc…
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Those few lines you wrote say so much and that is what poetry to me, is! It is authentic and heartfelt about society, life, and painful truths. A beautiful poem.
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Thank you for your kind words.
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You are welcome! and my pleasure – truly! Karen 🙂
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I love that phrase, ‘to question the answers.’
I read an essay that discussed the purpose of art, the main being to leave us ‘unsettled.’ It is in that uncomfortable state of being unsettled that we can achieve growth.
Questioning the answers does that quite well, I think.
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That’s a good way of thinking of it. If we’re uncomfortable, we’re more likely to change.
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Writing poetry improves critical thinking and self-awareness, so even on days when the words might not be flowing, your wellbeing and creativity is being well-served. 😊
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I like the way you said that. I’d like to that even non-productive writing days have some benefit.
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Help. You’re making my brain do overtime, Andrew. 😁
One of the metaphysical poets was discussing beauty. You may look at a painting of a seascape for example and say … it’s beautiful. But where is the beauty ? If you cut the painting in half … which half is the beauty in ?
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That’s another thing we poets do – get people to think a lot. 😉
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Poets tend to remind me about things that I have overlooked or dismissed. As it turns out, I need to focus some attention on those subjects and look inside myself for my reactions/feelings.
Ω
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It is one of the poet’s jobs to shift focus to those things – to highlight the obvious beneath our feet. A good poem should take you to an unexpected place.
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Your poems have that effect on me, Andrew.
Thanks,
Ω
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That’s a fair answer, Andrew. For those who can’t find answers in pros or music or art, there is poetry. I enjoyed your post.
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I’ll admit that poetry wasn’t my first choice of art. I’ve tried music, drawing, and others, but never reached any level of creativity. It seems I am gifted with poetry and I’ve learned to accept that it is my art.
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I think reading poetry takes more patience than reading prose. Some poems have imagery that takes dissecting, and references that may or may not be clear. My feeling has been, “Why don’t they just say what they mean, instead of couching the points of the poem behind verbiage?”
Having said that, I will read anything you write and try to understand.
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One difference is that prose is often written to communicate while poetry is art. And I have to admit that often I don’t completely understand a poem I’ve written. The poet is often just trying to create a feeling or paint an image.
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Sometimes it’s words and sometimes a piece of wood 👍
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Sometimes the wood holds the poem.
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