Statement
Poetry, for me, offers a way to both explore and celebrate the human spirit. Among the many gifts that poetry offers are its invitations toward more mindful living. Poetry serves as a tool for helping us stay awake to the creative and healing voices within. It serves as a valued companion to the complex experiences of being human in this increasingly complex and interdependent world. It provides, as Lucille Clifton liked to remind us, windows to help broaden our perspectives and mirrors to help us reflect on our experiences. Poetry addresses our shared desire for what is meaningful and beautiful while also serving to help bring increased thoughtfulness and grace into both our lives and into the public discourse.
As Benjamin Demott has written, poetry can “help us explore our human connections as well as our distinct human otherness.” Both reading and writing poetry encourages us in our efforts to create a kinder and more just world by living significant and compassionate lives.
Poetry
Wanting more
than hope
I turn to
poetry for revelation,
instruction
for my spirit,
courage for my
re‑awakening soul,
truth or rapture
or love's embrace,
call it what
it is‑‑
the
consistently
unexpected
surprise
of Beauty's
human face.
. . . . .Michael S. Glaser
first published as Cover of Friends Journal, August, 1996
Copyrighted: please do not use without permission
