What Poetry Does
Of course, now, I have to respond. With Brandon’s musings on the nature of poetry, I shall provide my own. To me, poetry is a magnifying glass held over an old photograph— its edges smolder as sunlight casts new angles on familiar scenes. Like Brandon, I agree with Wordsworth’s notion of poetry as the spontaneous overflow of emotion, but I also think of Eliot’s The Waste Land, which confronts readers with forgotten fragments of memory, beauty, and decay. Poetry looks closely at the briefest second but also stretches over the infinite bounds of the universe— a lasso looping around time itself.
Through poetry, transient moments are transfixed and transformed into shareable works of art. Despite its way of being deeply personal, poetry has a way of speaking to everyone. It invites readers to witness the entire spectrum of human feeling. Take Kim Addonizio’s raw, confessional style— she draws the reader into intimate moments, yet those moments are recognizable to anyone who has ever known desire, heartbreak, or self-discovery.
Similarly, Rae Armantrout guides the reader to find connections through snippets of language where they might not instantly appear, reflecting disjointed contemporary life in a way that feels relatable. Good work leaves room for interpretation, as if each bit of text holds the potential for multiple layers of meaning. The ability to suggest meaning beyond what is explicitly stated allows poetry to resonate, even in its most elusive forms. Whether through bold outpouring or carefully measured silence, poetry connects people across generations and cultures.
In addition, poetry is a time traveler, allowing readers to experience cherished memories or confront buried sorrow. Dara Barrois/Dixon (formerly Dara Wier) captures this fluidity of time in her surreal poems, blurring the lines between past, present, and future. The real merges with the imagined. Likewise, Jose Hernandez Diaz’s prose poems often contain dreamlike landscapes where reality twists and pulls, inviting readers to question the boundaries between the mundane and the magical, to play with the endless possibilities of the human imagination. Each poet’s perspective, either through surreal dreamscapes or in-your-face realism, colors their work with emotion, memory, and the pulsing rhythm of the unknown.
To distill my thoughts down to what I believe poetry does: it reflects both the microcosm and macrocosm of existence. I love the power within Gwendolyn Brooks’ “We Real Cool,” a poem so brief yet so expansive. In just a few lines, she illustrates the immediate lives of young men in Chicago while also addressing broader struggles surrounding identity, rebellion, and mortality.
Poetry works as both a zoom lens and a lasso around time. It’s a tool for seeking answers for the day-to-day intricacies and unanswerable questions that shape human existence. It stokes fires, offers comfort, broadens perspectives, and inspires us to view the world in unexpected ways. By engaging with poetry—whether through reading or writing—we can deepen our appreciation of ourselves, our communities, and the wider world. I’m perpetually prepared to be surprised.
