I write poetry because the paper stays still.
I write poetry because I don’t have to justify and account for all the different versions of myself.
I write poetry because I contain multitudes.
I write poetry because water can renew, bring life, or kill and I want to know which it is.
I write poetry because I was bored before.
I write poetry because I want to know why.
I write poetry because red can be firehouse, apple, or blood.
I write poetry because I think that buildings communicate so they don’t run into each other.
I write poetry because the people who died in 9/11 can’t.
I write poetry because I collect words.
I write poetry because I don’t understand war.
I write poetry because you turned into a specter before my eyes and you’re haunting me.
I write poetry because I know the significance of subjunctive mood.
I write poetry because psychology still hasn’t figured out the mind.
I write poetry because it sounds good.
I write poetry because God is eavesdropping on all of your conversations.
I write poetry because it makes me squirm.
I write poetry because I write poetry because I write poetry.
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Since you arne't going to grad school now, you can write EVEN MORE POETRY!
ReplyDeleteThis, from Gary Snyder, aka Japhy Ryder:
ReplyDeleteActually, what we want poetry to do is guide lovers toward ecstasy, give witness to the dignity of old people, intensify human bonds, elevate the community, and improve public spirit. And so, it is in just that humanness, that delicate—I’m almost tempted to use the word sweet—appreciation of the details of human life, families, the frustrations of employment with the government, and the frustrations of being a hermit, that we respond to most deeply in Chinese poetry, having a poetry ourselves which is so different in a way, so mythological, so political and so elevated, that it can’t deal with ordinary human affairs often.