Fearless & Impactful Poetry

It’s really October. It’s so hard to believe that we are starting the last quarter of the year 2017. How did this happen? I know we are there because besides the calendar the baseball season is moving into fall ball and then after the World Series, the baseball blues will be in full swing. Already I feel them tugging like a tide going back to sea, pulling a blanket back off the shoreline, exposing the beach.

This week I will be fortunate enough to begin a mentoring period with a three-time Pushcart Prize nominee and author of 4 books.  The objective is fearless and impactful poetry on my part. It sounds lofty I know, but I believe the right help is on the way.

These times are quite raw. The devastation of hurricanes, people’s lives upended and cast in uncertainty.  Last night, a mass shooting in Vegas with at least 58 dead and those injured numbering 515 persons, the largest mass shooting of modern times in our country.  The question is sometime asked, “Who needs poetry?”  At times like these the answer is a simple, “We do!”

When we don’t have answers to life challenges, both good and bad, sometimes we just need to ask the right questions. Poetry can help us process these things. It may not solve them, but helps us find perspective.