Saturday, December 11, 2010

The Why and Now of Poetry

Writing is both mask and unveiling.  ~E.B. White

The two most engaging powers of an author are to make new things familiar and familiar things new.  ~Samuel Johnson


I would hurl words into this darkness and wait for an echo, and if an echo sounded, no matter how faintly, I would send other words to tell, to march, to fight, to create a sense of hunger for life that gnaws in us all.  ~Richard Wright, American Hunger, 1977


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I have resisted writing this.


I have resisted tweeting, texting, facebooking and, in general, chirping myself into the electronic world.  


Now I hear you thinking that I am one who resists change. That I am one who would communicate to the world--and not with it. 

Yet, nevertheless, here I am. 


So this is my New Year's risking-taking experiment  of "hurling words into the darkness." This is me sending my voice into the darkness of cyberspace.


I write--this and more--because I can sense the faint echo of you out there. 

I can hear you breathing.










5 comments:

karmenghia said...

Okay Lois, now you're out here with the rest of us. I'm going to be checking on you... I do this because I too have someone checking on me, making sure I'm blogging at least two times a week because I was dumb enough to state this goal out loud, into cyberspace. Welcome to the world of technology!

Side-note: I find it interesting that even when blogging, you have the voice of a poet.

Lois Roma-Deeley said...

Mille Grazie!

This is like a knock at the front door! The sounds you think you know making a familiar rhythm....

Fran Weidner said...

Lois, this is more than I thought a blog could be. I'm glad C. ordered you to do this. You brought a new convert into the fold.

Anonymous said...

i don't read blogs because 90% of it is a waste of time for me.
Your blog is a learning, interesting and inspiring experience. Thanks. RF

Lois Roma-Deeley said...

Thank you very much. It's nice to know that. This whole experience is new to me. I believe, deeply, that we are responsible for--and to--our culture. The question, in terms of poetry, is how do we develop audiences. Or more simply put, how do we help audiences to love and value poetry? So this is me lighting my candle in the cyber-night! And I have faith in American audiences! It's good to know you are out there.