Mike Hickey's Poet Populist candidate statement
Less that 2% of Americans read poetry. And I ask myself WHY? Why would a medium so dynamic and powerful be so widely ignored? Is it because many contemporary poets have relieved themselves of the obligation to have a point, to advance some insight to their readers regarding love, politics, the human animal, the world in which we live? The poet Thomas Lux once told me that a large number of today's poets aren't worried about being misunderstood, they're worried about being understood, because essentially they don't have anything very important to say. Since 1995, I have been teaching students that one doesn't have to sacrifice clarity for creativity. And when a fourth grader writes, "A dress walked by with a woman inside..." I know that poetry is still very much alive and well. This is the message I would like to deliver if elected Poet Populist!
Mike will be reading with Poet Populist candidates on MON, OCT 27, at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center, at 4408Delridge Way SW
Special Guest: Pesha Joyce Gertler, Poet Populist 2005-2006
Don't forget to vote in this election and that other one.
Thanks for supporting the It's About Time Writers Reading Series
Esther
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3 comments:
I'm happy and very proud to be the official candidate for Poet Populist as nominated by the It's About Time Reading Series. So gentle reader I ask you, what role and what agenda would you like to see the Poet Populist advance in Seattle, the most literate city in the United States?
Great question, Mike. I'd like poems to help us understand the human condition, especially in this time of global need.
Here's what Tree Swenson, of the Academy of American Poets, has to say about poetry in the time of confusion:
The staff at the Academy of American Poets has assembled a selection of poems on Poets.org that we each have turned to during the recent confusion, and we hope they will open the possibility of a different kind of reflection in the fog of uncertainty. Poetry can provide solace, give voice to despair, restore optimism, or simply remind us of our common connection through words. As William Faulkner said in his Nobel speech, "The poet's voice need not merely be the record of man, it can be one of the props, the pillars to help him endure and prevail."
Yours,
Tree Swenson,
Executive Director of the Academy of American Poets
congrats. nice to see you as opposed to the others nab the populistic flag. you ask...the library should have a seattle writers/poets section. they do not. why would that be?
did i notice sherry reniker's name upcoming. where's she living these days. look forward to that.
best to poet & series
nico vassilakis
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