“One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and, if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words” (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe).⠀
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This is good advice for us all, and I’ve been thankful for The Trinity Forum and Coracle for their commitment in promoting such things. It’s hard to find places these days where reasonable words can be heard, whether about politics or poetry.⠀
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As such, I loved Marilyn McEntyre’s discussion of poetry on Friday (amongst many other things) as she and David Bailey discussed, “Speaking Peace and Seeking Reconciliation in a Fractured Culture.”⠀
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She brought up how promoting poetry is a public responsibility, rather than a private practice. Especially in these days of division and derision. Like hymns and psalms, it introduces truth in a subversive and surprising way. It helps refresh depleted soil. “Truth-telling is paradoxical,” and “reading poetry teaches us to think about words.”⠀
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“Why read a poem at a time like this?” Marilyn asks in an earlier essay I’ve read.⠀
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“The good ones offer even unpracticed readers, even resistant readers, some shock of recognition that brings them to terms with something true—a feeling, a memory, a fear, a sudden insight.”⠀
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“People who can read poetry well have learned to look closely and long at what they see and honor its complexities. They know how to think metaphorically, tolerate ambiguity, recognize the extent to which meaning is made, not just given, and read creatively and critically. They care about language and respect its power. They will not easily be duped, or persuaded by propaganda. They are discerning listeners, and make their judgments with deliberation. We need them in boardrooms and pulpits and on the floor of Congress and in labs and labor unions.”⠀
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So if there’s any good time to start the practice of reading poetry, I’d say 2020 is that year.
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