Quote:
Originally Posted by Aaron Poochigian
I have no regrets about bringing poetry to a wider audience.
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And the small rippling sound is the sound of me cheering.
Because, just yes. There are various layers of arguments as to why, including ones about all arts, not just poetry, but I think (subjective) there's a particular place for poetry in letting us engage in multi-sensory experiences that aren't ours, but enable us to enter different worlds, empathise, document the world in a way that doesn't rely on big narratives, or data driven narratives. Particularly when read aloud. Poetry can be not only a small act of personal resistance but a way of sharing alt-narratives that works on a human scale.
There have been so many diversions and false binaries produced in the arts in the past, though - one of the metaphors for the landscape of poetry on here I really liked (and I can't remember who it was or where it was posted) was poetry as a 'big tent', with lots of different people writing in it. The writer shared the landscape of writing as an inclusive big tent, which was lovely. But, in reality, structures of power in writing and all arts are forming/reforming all the time. And there are lots of gatekeepers in the big tent.
So, for me, the fact that people choose to share poetry as a practice/as a thing to do/ activity outside the tent is unequivocally positive. Particularly when they might not.
Too many words.
Aaron - the choice of keeping your poetry open, not just readable, but open/open - for me, is important - because you might choose to be a gatekeeper.
Quincy Lehr, I agree that it's scary how wellbeing/mental health has been appropriated by a neo-liberal agenda.
Sarah-Jane