The Power of Poetry: A Review by Joan Boxall
‘The Power of Poetry’ by Geoff Olson, writer and political cartoonist, is the centerpiece
Poetry blots out the bleakness
article in March, 2012’s ‘Common Ground’ magazine. Looking at our politically and economically pressure-cooking world through history, Olson shows how poetry still matters in “its own fugitive…hard-to-quantify (and) subterranean way.” Whether “shoehorned into tweets…(speaking out) against social injustice,…dissenting…(and) engag(ing)”, Olsen takes us on a world tour, citing the poetic power of over 30 poets in providing comfort, hope and creative possibility in times of harsh hopelessness. Poetry is a life preserver as we continually fall overboard into stormy seas. Let’s not just get back in the boat and hang on, but chart a true course for peace through our mindsets, spoken words, actions, texts and tweets. Find it in its inspiring entirety online by title and author.
In 1996, the Academy of American Poets dedicated April as National Poetry month, a month in which “publishers, booksellers, literary organizations, libraries, schools and poets…band together…through readings, festivals, book displays, workshops…” and we at North Shore Writers’ Association celebrate in true fashion. (from www.poet.org ) Poetry enables our distraught world.
April’s Hope by Joan Boxall
Earth is brown, bleak;
Light is grey, dim;
Clouds are low, foggy;
My worldview shrinks.
Spring splashes colour
Exploding Yellow Wildflowers
On winter’s grey canvas and
Birds are the first to notice;
Sending their tweets, all a’twitter:
Preparing their nests.
We, lift the blinds on our heavy
Sleep-encrusted moleskin lids
And find possibility.
Bibliography
- Olson Geoff (2012, March) ‘The Power of Poetry’ Common Ground Magazine. Retrieved from http://commonground.ca/2012/03/power-of-poetry/ on June 4, 2012.