Why Poetry Matters

Last month, I had a poetry and wine giveaway over at my blog for L.L. Barkat’s InsideOut: Poems. One copy of the poems would be given away at random, simply by entering a comment. The winner of the more challenging assignment – write in 100 words or less on “why poetry matters,” would receive a copy of the poems and a bottle of Sineann wine.

The entries were stunning. Some were poems themselves; others short pieces of prose. All were good, too good not to acknowledge and publicize.

Some were posted on the individual writer’s web or blog site; others were entered directly into the comment section of my blog post. All of them need to be shared.

From time to time over the next few weeks, I’m going to post the entries here, along with the links to the writers. Here’s the first.

From A Simple Country Girl at Aspire to Lead a Quiet Life:

Blinking-Breathing-Thinking

Is this why we capture–so we can reflect?
Is this why we convey–so we can reach?
Is this why we desperately create and share our own inky beats
–so we can be closer to God?

Originally, the first two blocks of penned letters came last night. I was thinking on photography. And poetry. Wondering how some make it beauty? How some make the two-dimensional come alive and dance upon my brain and wriggle in my heart? My son, next to me at the kitchen table, was doing a word search. Seeking, finding, spelling. Trying to tie letters together in a way that made sense and order out of a jumbled chaotic mess.

While he sorted, I did the same. Seeking, finding, spelling–all while inking letters together in a way that bled my heart onto paper. I thought of and gifted her the first portion this morning. But as night’s dying darkness rolled back to reveal a soft light touching hilltops, I realized it is all a desperate hunt for Him.

My humble-laden camera clicks and ink beats are all because of Him.

And for Him.

It is my way of gifting God. Actually, I am only re-gifting what He already gave me.