What Use Is Poetry?

What Use Is Poetry?

Is poetry of any use at all,
Except to soothe the one who writes the verse?

But then perhaps if those who read it find
In what is written something they have felt,
Then this in turn might give those readers too
A bit of pleasure or of passing calm—
And this may then be seen as proof of worth.

We gaze on beauty—that in Nature’s forms
Or what’s reflected in our human works—
And this is pleasing, calming to the soul.
So also music, song and lines of verse
Have each their beauty that the ear and heart
Perceive. This yields again that treasured calm.

But surely verse, like other forms of art,
Can also agitate, arouse, ignite—
And so produce the opposite of peace?

And this is so. Perhaps at best our verse
Can serve to open senses, minds and hearts
And rouse us to the actions that are then
Perceived as needed—or give sustenance
To courage and conviction for a while,
As songs and poems keep our hopes alive.

But some might say that all of this is chaff
And verse is only useful, if at all, in this—
In sharing sight or in inducing bliss.

So which of these opinions is the best?
I do not know—and likely never will.
I write my verses, never knowing if
The lines are gems—or even more of swill.

2018 November 17th, Sun.
Brooklyn, New York
 Use Is Poetry?

Is poetry of any use at all,
Except to soothe the one who writes the verse?

But then perhaps if those who read it find
In what is written something they have felt,
Then this in turn might give those readers too
A bit of pleasure or of passing calm—
And this may then be seen as proof of worth.

We gaze on beauty—that in Nature’s forms
Or what’s reflected in our human works—
And this is pleasing, calming to the soul.
So also music, song and lines of verse
Have each their beauty that the ear and heart
Perceive. This yields again that treasured calm.

But surely verse, like other forms of art,
Can also agitate, arouse, ignite—
And so produce the opposite of peace?

And this is so. Perhaps at best our verse
Can serve to open senses, minds and hearts
And rouse us to the actions that are then
Perceived as needed—or give sustenance
To courage and conviction for a while,
As songs and poems keep our hopes alive.

But some might say that all of this is chaff
And verse is only useful, if at all, in this—
In sharing sight or in inducing bliss.

So which of these opinions is the best?
I do not know—and likely never will.
I write my verses, never knowing if
The lines are gems—or even more of swill.

2018 November 17th, Sun.
Brooklyn, New York