The Poet Responds to Some Generalized Critique of Poetry

a poem

No one should have to say this But: Poetry can be anything That involves magical mythical beautiful basic Simple complex Pure Words In strings and stops With rules or no rules As long as it all comes from deep places inside The heart the mind the soul the hands Ripped out so fast that the posture adjusts Given up to the page frantically gracefully easily With a flow With some rhyme With some patterning With some rhythm With some measure and depth of feeling Visual yes Visionary always It is art it is creation It is craft it is harder than it looks it is work it is more work than you think It is long, pages and pages, Goblin Market style sonnets for days and days It is short, tiny words, big feels, it is haiku Short stanzas open form beatnik Emily It’s not an essay It’s not a report It’s not a form to fill out Or a box to check It is something to share with Those we love And those we don’t know With the world we can expand With our words Our little fires that rage in words That will pass along a feeling That might make someone go Read an essay Read a report Make some change Stir the pot Our art serves a different purpose Poetry is the gadfly Poetry is the healing balm Poetry is the soft embrace Poetry is the soapbox Leave it to us Stand back Bow down Appreciate We’ve got this

Jenny Justice is a mom, Sociology instructor, and writer. You can follow her on Medium and at Jenny Justice, Writer. She has been recognized as a Top Writer on Medium in Poetry, Parenting, Reading, Education, Books, Racism, Feminism and Climate Change, so far.