in celebration of the poem

April is National Poetry Month. Many of you know (and those who don't could probably guess) that I love being pricked by a good poem. I am not a poet, and I know it, but I appreciate those who can, in just a few words, say more than many can in an entire book. I love the images and emotions they conjure, the metaphors they create, the way they refuse to waste words, punctuation and line breaks, and the heart-stopping final punch in the last stanza.

Some of my favorite poets include (in no particular order): Edna St. Vincent Millay, Naomi Shihab Nye, Walt Whitman, William Carlos Williams, Pablo Neruda, e. e. cummings, Billy Collins, and Louise Glück. Here is one I like by Lawrence Ferlinghetti, a founder of the beat movement, that I'd like to share today.

"Poetry as Insurgent Art [I am signaling you through the flames]"

I am signaling you through the flames.

The North Pole is not where it used to be.

Manifest Destiny is no longer manifest.

Civilization self-destructs.

Nemesis is knocking at the door.

What are poets for, in such an age?
What is the use of poetry?

The state of the world calls out for poetry to save it.

If you would be a poet, create works capable of answering the challenge of apocalyptic times, even if this meaning sounds apocalyptic.

You are Whitman, you are Poe, you are Mark Twain, you are Emily Dickinson and Edna St. Vincent Millay, you are Neruda and Mayakovsky and Pasolini, you are an American or a non-American, you can conquer the conquerors with words....

--Lawrence Ferlinghetti