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In Defence of Poetry | Juan Emilio Ríos Vera
Let us not forget that poetry is a bolthole in itself and not a terraced house, and few answer its furtive call every day.
Poetry is a complex art that requires prior knowledge in order to be fully appreciated and enjoyed. Poetry is also the most intimate stronghold of beauty, the last unicorn; the best possible respite during these times of stress and stridency.
Making time to read poetry or literature is as healthy as venturing into the mountains to breathe in the fresh air, and as beneficial as turning off the TV and digging into a book, or spending the night away, dreaming of wonders. Poetry is not sectarian, but a pleasant gathering in the heat of its verses and metaphors that enrich the spirit and heal the mind.
Poetry is not a closed circle either. Its doors are always wide open for those who want to stroll through its hallways and succumb to its beatific embrace.
Poetry is not a tired incantation, but the expression of the events that occur in our nervous system in the deepest and most original way possible. Let’s not consign poetry to a reserve for endangered species. Human beings need poetry to feel alive and awake, so as not to harden their senses into iron, or turn their skulls into steel.
Poetry is the surprise and commotion that shakes the ecstatic marrow of your insides. Poetry should not be dull. Those who don’t react to have allowed their hearts to rust.
Poetry is a gateway into excitement and a window to a less prosaic, less inhumane, more habitable world. It is a pathway to beauty and, as Ramón Trecet said, its beauty must be sought because it is the only worthwhile protest in this filthy world.
Let’s make love and poetry, never war or disorder. Let us make poems of every defeat, of every surrender. Only in this way will we once again raise our heads and once again turn around towards life.
Let’s turn each day into a new poem, full of enthusiasm and renewed hopes. There are poems pregnant with joy and then there are those which are very melancholic. They can be euphoric and decadent, ebullient and defeatist but, if we’re able to compose the poem of each day, it means we have opened up to welcome a new dawn.
To live in poetry is the eighth wonder of the world, and I have the privilege of its grace. Come and meet it!
In Defence of Poetry | Juan Emilio Ríos Vera
