Why is poetry important?
It is a deep sigh in a breathless world. Poetry, at its best, exemplifies all the things that mainstream culture seeks avoid: ambiguity, complexity and unanswerability. While most mainstream culture works to provide simple comforts and straightforward answers, poetry is more resistant to that kind of passive consumption. Sure, as mentioned before, there is a very popular kind of aphoristic poetry that plays into that sort of thing, that advertises relatability above anything else. However, if you look at the poetry that stands the test of time, the poetry that lives beyond social media communities, I think you’ll find the less superficial kind still wins out.
In my opinion, the most affective or interesting works of poetry do not utilise nice-sounding platitudes in a transparent attempt to court universal appeal. Instead, they dig deep into a unique universe of personal symbols, references, memories etc. They force us to engage our empathy and curiosity. They force us to tolerate the unresolved, the polysemous, the unmitigated other. They renew our imagination with distinct imagery and meaningful themes.
Consequently, reading and writing poetry is a pastime that eludes the purpose-driven, productivity-obsessed reality of modern life and instead speaks of an alterative way of viewing the world and our place in it.
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