In this time of instability and nervous grasping at “facts,” there can be a hurried disdain for that which is not perceived to be functionally able to create change. But actions are driven by responses to perception, and how much of what we “know” is our own way of explaining life to ourselves? To open ourselves to a wider lens requires not only perception, but interaction as well. The mystery of life, of spirit, and of nature is what keeps the written word malleable and alive in both our minds and hearts by melding the two in a way that the recitation of facts, or the quick reliance upon opinion rarely can. Leaving room for what both the writer and the reader bring to, and take from the experience of poetry gives freedom and an affirmation of identity that is rarely found outside of competitive accomplishment in our culture today. It is still a wondrous and ineffably immense gift to be aware of “being” and to become aware of that gift through the broadening and awakening of experience that can be found in poetry.
McBride 9-2022
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