<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><span class="" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85);" class="">Why do you bother to write poems?</span></span><div class=""><span class="" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><br class=""></span></div><div class=""><span class="" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Is the question from the back of the room; I cannot</span><br class="" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34);"><span class="" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Quite see the student asking it, but it’s deep-voiced</span><br class="" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34);"><span class="" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">And challenging and I assume it’s a guy. Because I</span><br class="" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34);"><span class="" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Want to rub music and language together and gawk</span><br class="" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34);"><span class="" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">At the flames, I say. Because poetry, if it takes fire,</span><br class="" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34);"><span class="" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Cracks people’s masks, and assaults arrogance, and</span><br class="" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34);"><span class="" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Sucks you beneath the surface of words toward why</span><br class="" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34);"><span class="" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">We use them. Because we have been singing before</span><br class="" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34);"><span class="" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">There ‘were’ words and it’s healthy to remember that.</span><br class="" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34);"><span class="" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Because the great poems are about you and me both</span><br class="" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34);"><span class="" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">And there is damned little we will be able to discuss</span><br class="" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34);"><span class="" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">In the normal flow of the river and it’s good for both</span><br class="" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34);"><span class="" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Of us to stand together quietly for a while in a poem.</span><br class="" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34);"><span class="" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Because why the hell not ? What is it exactly that we</span><br class="" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34);"><span class="" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Should count as time better spent ? You cannot spare</span><br class="" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34);"><span class="" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Two minutes for a poem? Sure, it might be pompous</span><br class="" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34);"><span class="" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Arty muck, and you demand your two minutes back,</span><br class="" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34);"><span class="" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">But what if it isn’t ? What if it shivers you, or startles</span><br class="" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34);"><span class="" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">You awake, or makes you weep remembering a time</span><br class="" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34);"><span class="" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">When you sang all day too, and everything was made</span><br class="" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34);"><span class="" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Of music and light and colors and slabs of shimmer ?</span><br class="" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34);"><span class="" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">WHAT IF, brother — that’s my answer to your question.</span><br class="" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34);"><br class="" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34);"><span class="" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>- Brian Doyle </span></div></div></body></html>