In our social media-driven era, where it often feels as if nuance is in jeopardy, it is timely to think about how poetry can embrace the political while not succumbing to the lure of rhetoric.
Successful poems evoke empathy in the reader and expand horizons of possibility.
-- Emily Cullen
My Dear Friends/Readers:
Please join NeverEnding Story to expand the readership base for tanka by tweeting at least one tanka a day throughout the month of May. The hashtags for Tanka Poetry Month are #MayTanka and #NaTankaMo.
Please help spread the word about this celebration via your poetry blogs, websites, Facebook pages, and X accounts. And NeverEnding Story seeks the tanka that can bite and bite hard.
What [tanka] can, must, and will always do for us: it complicates us, it doesn't "soothe."
--paraphrasing Jorie Graham
The accepted tanka will be translated into Chinese and posted on NeverEnding Story and Twitter (You are welcome to follow Chen-ou on X at @ericcoliu; 6 Following and 4,633 Followers).
To conclude today's post, I would like share with you Emily Cullen's reflections, "Why reading and writing poems shouldn’t be considered a luxury in troubling times" (The Conversation: Academic rigour, journalistic flair, April 25, 2024)
The American poet Adrienne Rich once asked: “To say that a poet is responsive, responsible – what can that mean?” This question about poets bearing witness and being the “conscience” of their society is something I’ve pondered over the years...
In a world teeming with injustice, it is more urgent than ever to read (and write) poetry that engages with social realities and inequities. Poetry, as Audre Lorde memorably stated, “is a vital necessity of our existence. It forms the quality of light within which we can predicate our hopes and dreams toward survival and change”...
In our social media-driven era, where it often feels as if nuance is in jeopardy, it is timely to think about how poetry can embrace the political while not succumbing to the lure of rhetoric.
Successful poems evoke empathy in the reader and expand horizons of possibility. They make us feel, rather than preach at us. They remind us of our common humanity and our interconnectedness to the world.
And my reflections on the costs of writing in times of crises:
The Costs of Writing
My friend, Chen-ou
I used to enjoy writing these Oliverian lines:
alone
linger for a while
out of a busy day
for the bluethroats
that have gathered among reeds
bordering the edges of the wetland
for a musical battle
to see who can sing the richest note
tacc, tacc and a hweet
Now, in order to hear the birds
the fighter jets and rolling fireballs
must be silent, be silent
I just want to be alive
on this fresh morning
in the world of broken hearts
fireballs drown out
my bloodied friend's question
what use is poetry?
I'm startled awake
this snowy New Year's morning
Drifting in and out of my daymare, he looks markedly thinner and paler. There is hunger in his eyes and ... in his heart.
Happy Reading and Writing throughout the Tanka Poetry Month
Chen-ou
FYI: For more about the reasons "why reading and writing poetry shouldn’t be considered a luxury in troubling times" and good examples of poetry , see To the Lighthouse: Poetry Is Not a Luxury
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