Is it Time for Some Poetry?

 Is it Time for Some Poetry?

Published in Marietta Daily Journal (GA), Dec. 3, 2022

            Hold on men. I know what you’re thinking. I felt the same way until I was 17 years old. Oh, I could take “Twas the night before Christmas when all through the house …” because Christmas is wonderful and the qualities of poetry can easily convey its wonder.  I was moved by “In Flanders Fields the poppies blow / Between the crosses row on row …” because my entire childhood and teen years were wrapped in past and present wars. Two world wars, Korea, and Vietnam tend to reside in you forever if either you or your loved ones were involved in them. But except for a few poems that made sense to me, I seriously believed that poetry was probably meant only for girls. Life itself has taught me I was wrong.

            Today we are living in somber times even though there is no declared war, no deep economic Depression as of yet, and no pervasive civil unrest. Somber times call for contemplation, introspection, and prayerfulness, three things that good poetry can provide. By good poetry I mean poetry that deals with things that matter and is cast in vocabulary that is neither far flung nor overly literary.

Having wound up 51 years of teaching English language and literature in December of 2021, I submit that our nation needs some poetry. Good poetry is not fast food. It is healthier and richer than that and requires a desire for depth. It is food for the soul. Don’t think that high school boys or young college men are automatically turned off by it. They are not.

To paraphrase Mark Twain, who was not a poet, a good poem can run a mile while a lengthy essay – or newspaper column – is getting its pants on. Poetry is musical. It has been the chief purveyor of much of the world’s wisdom. It doesn’t seem ready to die: “Thirty days hath September, April, June, and November.” “I think that I shall never see a poem  lovely as a tree.” For millennia poetry has appealed to the working man and the intellectual, the downcast and the excited patriot, and to the young and the old alike.

            Consider “In Flanders Fields,” referenced above and written by soldier/physician Lt. John McCrae during WWI. Read slowly and study the picture McCrae paints: “In Flanders Fields where poppies blow / Between the crosses, row on row / That mark our place; and in the sky / The larks so bravely singing fly / Scarce heard amid the guns below.” Re-read these lines and note that they suggest war and death, but a measure of beauty as well.   

            Written from the point of view of fallen soldiers, the poem continues: “We are the dead /  Short days ago we lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow / Loved and were loved and now we lie in Flanders Fields / Take up our quarrel with the foe / To you from failing hands we throw the Torch / Be yours to hold it high / If ye break faith with us who die / We shall not sleep though poppies grow / In Flanders Fields.” An uneducated brother-in-law of mine who dropped out of school at age twelve to help s his family hold on to their farm was required to memorize this compelling poem in the seventh grade. With pride and joy he quoted it many times to my younger brother and me. Lt. McCrae fed Stanley’s soul and enriched his mind.

            Forty-seven years ago at Wheeler High School I asked a senior class to explain what poetry actually is. An astute young man said, “I read somewhere that poetry is a controlled departure from the rules of writing.” So it is and its power to challenge the mind and grip the soul has not waned. Consider Longfellow who wrote, “Not enjoyment and not sorrow / Is our destined end and way / But to act that each tomorrow / Find us farther than today.”  See? No concern for subjects and verbs, but dashed thoughts with much substance.

            A New Year’s suggestion: find a collection of poetry. Try Longfellow, Frost, Dickinson, Emerson, Whittier, Holmes, Kipling, and King David. These poets will feed you concepts and truths that will cure somberness. Then check-out specifically “Be Strong” by Babcock. 2023 will necessarily be better – in your world at least. The nightly news will no longer control you.

            The astute young man who explained what poetry is now serves as the chairman of the Cobb County School Board. I don’t recall whether he enjoyed poetry or not, but I suspect he would acknowledge its power.    

 

Roger Hines

December 1, 2022