Poetry is What Lies at the Core

Always, during times of intense emotion- emotions spanning the widest of spectrums- wether a joy so lofty, that spiritual ecstasy known to Rumi, and all mystics... or the Greek's wisdom, the poet-king Netzacoatl proclaiming his truths- and ancient poets praising beauty and virtue... But then, sorrow too- lines written on the walls at Angel Island and Armando Valladares, Cuban political prisoner, writing with his own blood... Always, historically, repeatedly in times like these, good and bad- we have reached for poetry... It is a singing in the darkness spoken of by Bertold Brecht. And words become both an affirmation and validation- a bearing witness... Stripped as we are poetry is what lies at the core- that magical mingling of, memory, imagination and hope.