Poetry Should Matter

This poem first appeared in the journal Buckle &, and will appear in my new book from Plain View Press entitled The Jeweled Net of Indra in 2007:

 

Poetry Should

 

Poetry should matter

like water

 

something to die for

 

necessary as air

 

bread

for the hungry

not

 

shelved, pristine

above the fray

 

each of us could speak

something

 

urgent from the bottom

of our lives

 

anything

 

with weight, levity

what is essential

 

is the speaking

as though lives depended

on it for

 

we do.