Yesterday was World Poetry Day ? dedicated in 1999 by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Culture Organization).
Why does poetry matter?
Why does art, music, theater, or literature matter?
Like some of you, as a goal-oriented, task-driven individual, I struggled with the answer to this question.? Now I am finding the answer.
These right-brain undertakings are not about having a hobby, something to do, or even about creating something beautiful.
They matter because they have the power to evoke our feelings.
And feelings display the splendor of the human experience; they parade its complexity and its mystery. ?They reveal life?s expansive diversity and show its beauty.
What we feel as people determines so much of what we do, think, say, dream, invent, promote, and create.? Just like the body ? it?s 80% water, but when you look at it you don?t see water – our human experience is mostly a medley of feelings.
Yes, we may be able to control our feelings, but we cannot remove them. ?They are part of the fabric of who we are.? Our lives are merely a brisk and sometimes violent dance with them!
And that is why any tool that can evoke them quietly in our soul is simply powerful.
And our ability to connect with our feelings and the feelings of others powerfully connects us all.? Those who cannot feel struggle with relationships.? They struggle with life.
So in celebration of World Poetry Day, I want to share with you a poem from the preeminent American Poet, Robert Frost:
A Minor Bird
I have wished a bird would fly away,
And not sing by my house all day;
Have clapped my hands at him from the door
When it seemed as if I could bear no more.
The fault must partly have been in me.
The bird was not to blame for his key.
And of course there must be something wrong
In wanting to silence any song.
I hope that you breathe poetry, embrace beauty, and silence nothing of your humanity.
For God created you. ?Emotional. ?Powerful. ?Human.? Eternal. ?Beautiful.
Your Friend,
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