Poetry happens when raw emotions overflow, bubbling out of a cauldron always on the boil...when the mind turns upside down, sees and bravely exposes the underbelly of human nature; when the heart’s graph fluctuates with arrhythmic beats with the disharmony of life or dances with earth’s music; when one’s guts are yanked out while uncovering injustice, betrayals, delusions and hypocrisy.  It is the melody of a soul whose sensitivity is like the membrane stretched over a kettle drum. Its sounds and pitches echo life, nature and the universe to create an acoustic ambience that helps one transcend mundane levels of existence.

Poetry happens when we acknowledge ourselves and the world around us in the sum of startling beauty and nerve-wracking ugliness; when we stop constant evasion of the stinging truth that life is. Poetry is an act of courage. It elicits inevitable and at times exaggerated interpretations, but its prominence lies in pollinating other hearts with ecstasy, passion, love, grief and wonderment; dyes minds in new colours of perception.

Poetry is a two-way lane of transformation and enlightenment. It raises the consciousness of both, the poet and the reader.  Its work is to jolt readers alive, shock them out of the abyss of smugness, point the way to truth; it inspires to take a deeper look at reality by peeping through holes others do not notice. It is an animating force, a salve that heals; a sounding board for people to determine the distinctive meaning of their lives.

Poetry is in the everyday things of life. We just need to slow down to hear its songs. It is in the wilderness of the earth and in the sky and clouds; the air thrums with it; it can be heard in stones and ripples; on mountains and hills it flirts with the sky; it sings with rivers and seas; whispers in trees; it hums in the hearts and souls of you and me. We are living poems.

Breathe-in experience, breathe-out poetry - Muriel Rukeyser

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