Reflections on the Role of the Writer: The Value of Poetry

I will readily admit, that while I sometime write poems, I seldom read them, outside of those assigned in classes. I don’t know why this is so, as I invariably enjoy and appreciate poems when I do read them. Of the various forms of creative writing, I feel like maybe the poem is an under-appreciated form to many, myself included. I am not sure why I feel this way, as the unassuming form can convey imagery and ideas in a way that a story, play/screenplay, essay, or article can’t.

Poems are wonderfully condensed forms when looking at the written word in general. They do not require a long attention span, as most are short when compared to even a newspaper article. When many of us are pressed for time, and can’t fit in the latest best-seller, or even read a full magazine, a poem can be fit in while riding the bus, waiting for a TV show to start, or quickly before bed. Yet in their briefness, poems can make us feel. They can tell a story or paint a picture. They can inform us and entertain us. They can make us think.

For example, while reading “In Flanders Field” again, I was moved to think of those that had died fighting for our freedoms. There is something so personal in how the poem is worded that it makes the loss incredibly poignant. I was also reminded of my own personal losses. When I read Sandburg’s “Chicago”, I could picture the vibrancy of the city, and feel the author’s sense of pride at what its working folk had built. I doubt that an essay would have been more effective, or a photograph as convincing. “In Memory of Tlatelolco” informed me of an event I hadn’t even known about and left me feeling sorrow and anger over it. As a past event, I am not sure how other than this poem I might have learned of this one. While reading “The Song My Paddle Sings”, I felt lulled by the rhythm of it, a sense of peace filling me as I joined the author on her journey by canoe. If it had been a painting, or even a short story, it would not have created the same feelings: I might have got the sense of peace, but only the poem was able to convey the rhythm of the paddling.

Each poem I read for my current studies has made me appreciate the art form more. Sometimes less can be more, and sometimes a few words are worth more than a picture. If I need even further proof, I just need to listen to the radio; song lyrics are simply poems set to music after all.