With regard to preaching... In the East they have something called Upaya - skillful means. Perhaps, just perhaps, poetry is preaching at its most skillful. Of course actions always speak louder than words. But poetry doesn't really work unless the words are commensurate with the actions.
It's strange but in modern times though we have difficulty with the word 'soul' we have no difficulty with 'soullessness' or with 'Soul music'. I think of the soul as being born of the union of heart and head, and the more perfectly united the two are then the more we can be said to possess a soul. Purely head-directed (mechanical) people are relatively soulless. And seem more like zombies.
Should we be trying to do anything as poets? Surely that is far too manipulative. I merely listen in to the Muse. The only thing I try to do is catch precisely as I can what she is whispering. Luckily she is endlessly patient. But this very process is both universal and intimate. The most intimate and the most universal. And the more intimate and universal the mood I happen to be in at the time the more she will communicate to me.
With regard to preaching... In the East they have something called Upaya - skillful means. Perhaps, just perhaps, poetry is preaching at its most skillful. Of course actions always speak louder than words. But poetry doesn't really work unless the words are commensurate with the actions.
It's strange but in modern times though we have difficulty with the word 'soul' we have no difficulty with 'soullessness' or with 'Soul music'. I think of the soul as being born of the union of heart and head, and the more perfectly united the two are then the more we can be said to possess a soul. Purely head-directed (mechanical) people are relatively soulless. And seem more like zombies.
Should we be trying to do anything as poets? Surely that is far too manipulative. I merely listen in to the Muse. The only thing I try to do is catch precisely as I can what she is whispering. Luckily she is endlessly patient. But this very process is both universal and intimate. The most intimate and the most universal. And the more intimate and universal the mood I happen to be in at the time the more she will communicate to me.
Amen.