The Poetic Experience (Number Four)

poetry lost itself, lost it's connection, and its ability to be effective when it became a secluded form, wrapped in the academic world, shaped by form and vague images and intricate patterns. but there have always been those who walked a different path, who dared! for poetry to again reach the hearts of the masses, we have to speak their language! we have to use images and experiences that the common man and woman both understand, and have felt. we have to be real! poetry is not a large volume that sits on a shelf unopened... poetry is the heartbeat of the people. it has to taste like people, feel like people, and stink like people! at this late and urgent time, it has nothing to do with praise, with awards, or with fame... it has to do with reaching out into the sweat and the excrement, the longing and the hurting, the anger and the lostness... reaching out and touching... i dont care if anyone remembers my name 20 years from now... what i care about is whether what i write brings redemption and healing to the human spirit!