Nobody reads poetry, we are told at every inopportune moment. I read poetry. I am somebody. I am the people, too. It can be allowed that an industrious quantity of contemporary American poetry is consciously written for a hermetic constituency; the bulk is written for the bourgeoisie, leaving a lean cut for labor. Only the hermetically aimed has a snowball's chance in hell of reaching its intended ears. One proceeds from this realization. A staggering figure of vibrant, intelligent people can and do live without poetry, especially without the poetry of their time. This figure includes the unemployed, the rank and file, the union brass, banker, scientist, lawyer, doctor, architect, pilot, and priest. It also includes most academics, most of the faculty of the humanities, most allegedly literary editors and most allegedly literary critics. They do so--go forward in their lives, toward their great reward, in an engulfing absence of poetry--without being perceived or perceiving themselves as hobbled or deficient in any significant way. It is nearly true, though I am often reminded of a Transtromer broadside I saw in a crummy office building in San Francisco:We got dressed and showed the house You live well the visitor said The slum must be inside you. If I wanted to understand a culture, my own for instance, and if I thought such an understanding were the basis for a lifelong inquiry, I would turn to poetry first. For it is my confirmed bias that the poets remain the most 'stunned by existence, ' the most determined to redeem the world in words. C.D. Wright
About This Quote

The real reason why poetry is so important is because it has the power to change people’s lives. Poetry can be used to inspire people, to improve their lives, and it also has the ability to teach us about our world. The poet can show us how to live our lives and what our actions mean. They can use their words to put thought into action and they are able to convey this meaning through their poems.

Source: Cooling Time: An American Poetry Vigil

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More Quotes By C.D. Wright
  1. Poetry is the language of intensity. Because we are going to die, an expression of intensity is justified.
  2. Nobody reads poetry, we are told at every inopportune moment. I read poetry. I am somebody. I am the people, too. <span style="margin:15px; display:block"></span>It can be allowed that an industrious quantity of contemporary American poetry is consciously written for a hermetic constituency; the bulk is...
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