Welcome to day two of National Poetry Month. Today I am pleased to present a fellow author and poet DA Botta who I met through B.G. Bowers. He has written a thoughtful intro on why poetry is important. Enjoy!
On the Importance of Poetry
The fact that we still have a National Poetry Month, and thousands upon thousands of talented poets to keep it alive and thriving, is remarkable. Poetry, and all arts – I suppose – have often suffered the appalling misperception (perhaps only an American one, I am not sure) that art is simply ancillary to life. Creativity is considered hobby and pastime and whimsy and daydream. It is invigorating to have met so many fine poets over the last few years, whose passion and perseverance in verse is so beautifully resolute. It is exhilarating to be one of the rebellious dreamers who may prove the cynics wrong.
To quote from Mr. John Keating (Dead Poet’s Society, 1989) – now irrevocably and woefully commercialized by Apple Corporation: “We don’t read and write poetry because it’s cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race and the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for.”
In The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock (1920), T. S. Eliot masterfully asks one of the most tantalizing questions of the human experience:
Do I dare
Disturb the universe?
To which generation after generation of poets and artists reply:
We disturb it, yes, just fine.
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Gypsy Kiss
I long for the woods: the smell of pine
Oft admired by tender minds
And all the natural display
The solitude of an empty place
And sweet embers burn and char until
Petals fall down from daffodil
Peace upon the dewdrop rain
Candles in the weathervane
Chance of winds and breezes bare
Troll away the fret and care
To breach the barren nakedness
Nothing does confide, confess
Like soils of richness, air of mist
Inhale, exhale, together again
The symphony of dry kindling then
The flame that rages and consumes
Shoos away the world’s perfume
What will is is, what might is is –
The dreamscape of a gypsy kiss
© d a botta 2014
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D A Botta
D A Botta lives on the south shore of Massachusetts with this family. He recently published a collection of 200 poems, entitled There in Them Blues (2014). D A has published 3 novels in a fantasy series, Elyzian Chronicles: Hysteriata (2011) Sinfluence (2012) and Sycamortem (2013), which use a blend of witchcraft, magic, tarot, astrology and mythology to create a rich experience of the protagonist’s struggle with love, power, loss, and purpose. He is currently working on the fourth in the series Hexamtyr which is expected to be completed in the fall of 2014.
Website | www.dabotta.com
Twitter | dabotta17
Amazon | author profile
Sonya Rhen 
I love the smells & textures evoked by this poem’s imagery. It’s one of my favourites.
I also love the intro – you’re so right, creative work is seen by most as hobby, not career, & I for one would love to prove that misconception wrong.
Great post, thanks Sonya & D 🙂