why do you bother to write poems? by brian doyle

Why do you bother to write poems?
Is the question from the back of the room; I cannot
Quite see the student asking it, but it’s deep-voiced
And challenging and I assume it’s a guy. Because I
Want to rub music and language together and gawk
At the flames, I say. Because poetry, if it takes fire,
Cracks people’s masks, and assaults arrogance, and
Sucks you beneath the surface of words toward why
We use them. Because we have been singing before
There ‘were’ words and it’s healthy to remember that.
Because the great poems are about you and me both
And there is damned little we will be able to discuss
In the normal flow of the river and it’s good for both
Of us to stand together quietly for a while in a poem.
Because why the hell not ? What is it exactly that we
Should count as time better spent ? You cannot spare
Two minutes for a poem? Sure, it might be pompous
Arty muck, and you demand your two minutes back,
But what if it isn’t ? What if it shivers you, or startles
You awake, or makes you weep remembering a time
When you sang all day too, and everything was made
Of music and light and colors and slabs of shimmer ?
WHAT IF, brother — that’s my answer to your question.

            -(C) Brian Doyle 

• Has a poem ever shivered you or startled you awake? If so, find the poem and write a letter of gratitude to it for the gift it gave you.

• What is the mask that need cracking? Write a poem the mask and what is hidden behind.

• Write about a time when you sang all day and everything was made of music and light. If you’ve never experience that kind of bliss, write the poem as you imagine it might feel to be in such a state. Begin with the words, I remember…