Poetry is the primordial sea from which the other arts arise. The literature of every civilization is built upon it. Painting, drawing, sculpture and architecture echo poetic form. Music is the poetry of pure sound without voice.
"Poetry itself is a very primitive and essential need." ~Andrew Motion
The process by which poets write is closely akin to the mystical experience. Many of history's great spiritual thinkers have expressed themselves through poetry, for example the Psalmists, Jelaluddin Rumi, and Ralph Waldo Emerson.
"Poetry is what has saved me through the years....I can create a space of beauty when all around me is poverty and deprivation. I can experience an uplifting of the spirit when all around me things are trying to pull me down." ~Shirley Geok-Lin Lim, quoted in Bill Moyers, Fooling With Words. (1999). New York: William Morrow & Company. p. 143.
"Poetry moves the mind and heart through so many different realms, so swiftly, so unnoticeably, that you can be carried by that current into a widened existence. The utter permeability of our life is made visible by the very nature of poetry." ~Jane Hirshfield, Ibid. p. 99.
Poets work in solitude, clearing their minds of distraction and entering a meditative state that, for many, seems to touch a higher level of consciousness than is contained within themselves. This is similar to the hyper-aware state mystics describe.
The links at left lead to individual poems by the Van Waffle published on this site. Poems published at other sites are listed in the Online Poetry Index.
All written material and images are ©1997-2002 Van Waffle. This page updated Dec. 16, 2002.
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