A Poetic Crusade

Poetry is not the art of silence. . .

but it can encompass quiet. . . .

meditation. . . .

the moments when we

attend to breath or thought without speaking
disharmony is only one end of its spectrum. . .

there are spaces between words

Politics is not an art. . .

but politicians do exercise craft. . .

their media include words. . . .

But also wool. . .

white noise. . . .and wars. they cough . . . .

We’ve forgotten the sound of our own voices

Personal lives are our proper domain we’re told. . . .

So explain to me where they lie. . . .

What spaces are private when our rulers use their power to
control our bedrooms and bodies . . . .?

To clamp down our lips on every word of potential dissent

People. . . .

We must all become poets
each of us must cultivate the difficult art

of articulating personal lives in political terms. . . .

We must create words that drown out the noise of political violence

Poetry must excavate a space for the silence that is evidence of peace