My Place, My Power

Summary

The content reflects on poetry as a personal sanctuary, a craft with its own rules, and a community space for sharing and growth.

Abstract

The author of the web content discusses the transformative power of poetry, describing it as a safe haven where one can learn and grow. Poetry is portrayed as both a familiar space and a challenging landscape, where the author feels at home yet constantly strives to understand its intricate rules. The piece emphasizes the author's love for poetry, despite its complexities and the sometimes unwelcoming nature of the poetry community. The author claims a space in poetry that is alive and self-sustaining, where poems converse with their past and remain vibrant through their own agency. The poetry that resonates with the author is characterized by kindness and a reminder not to forget the essence of the craft. The author's connection to poetry is deep, extending to a sense of ownership and a desire to share this space with others, inviting them to make it a home and to wait together for the right moment to embrace it fully. The cost of this wait is considered worthwhile, and the author encourages engagement with poetry, questioning the reader's love for it and offering a platform for shared appreciation.

Opinions

The author values poetry as a place of safety and learning, where one can be both comfortable and challenged.
There is a critique of the poetry community for its occasional ill manners and bad intent, despite the author's appreciation for the rhymes of their roots.
The author expresses a deep connection to poetry, seeing it as a living entity with its own history and evolution.
Poetry is seen as a space for freedom and enjoyment, but also as a reminder to preserve the essence of the art.
The author believes in the inclusive nature of poetry, inviting all to partake and find a home within it.
The author suggests that the wait for the right moment to fully embrace poetry is valuable and enriching.
There

My Place, My Power

The poetry where I came from was a place of safety. I learned the game well enough there to play it on the run, but not so well I couldn’t stumble.

The poetry I know now is mostly a place of carefully-devised woes, a place where I’m right at home but deep in the wrong.

I’m still trying to learn the rules. I love the game well enough to want to play it forever, but never good enough to win. I come from a land of poets. It’s true there is much too much rhyme, and worse than that, lots of ill intent and bad manners. I like the rhymes of my roots but dislike the way they treat the poems they care for. The territory I claim is where it’s been and where it is. I’ve found that when a poem starts to talk back to its past, it can only stay alive through its own self-sustaining agency.

The poetry I love is a place of kindness and worry. It’s a space where we’re all free to have fun but not to forget. I don’t limit the poets I love. I don’t even limit the poetry I know. All that limits me is my readiness to die in the body of it all.

I’ve seen the works of the poets I know. I’ve seen their places. I’ve seen their offices and the poetry inside them. I know what poems can do for us, and I know how they’re made. My claim to this place is that it’s got a life of its own. It’s there, where it is.

Places I’ve been have given me the power to claim this one. I share the words of my people with you, even if you don’t have a home. This space is ready for you to turn it into a home. This place is ready for you to live in it. Maybe this place is yours already, maybe it’s not yet ready for you, but at least we can wait together, and the cost of our wait will be more than worth it.

Poetry is everywhere 💚 But the question is, how much do you love it?

This way I can share your poems with everyone

The Power of Poetry

My Place, My Power

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