What Is Poetry? Poem by Diana van den Berg

It is not words on a page.
It is not even words in your ears.

It is the joy you feel
at a baby’s laughter;

It is your wonderment
at the beauty of
the huge sun
shining through
a tiny spring-green leaf;

It is that warm fuzzy feeling
when somebody dries your tears
with a kindly hug;

It is the sadness that
soaks your soul
when you lose somebody you love;

It is the humour that tickles you
when laughter bubbles up in you
all the way
from your toes
to your nose;

It is the pondering on
the world’s
greatest
and
smallest
questions;

It is the tears
that flood your eyes
when you
receive,
and especially
when you give,
joy
or pain
or warmth;
and when you wrap yourself
in
the sheer beauty,
or truth,
or sadness,
or kindness
that is abundant
in our crazy world.

All of these things are
also
in what somebody
has painted for you
in oils
or pastels
or sculptures
or dance
or song
or in
spoken
or
written
words.

The beginning
of your friendship with poetry
is like any other friendship -
it has nothing to do with
knowing anything about it
or understanding it
... it is simply
enjoying how you feel when you are with it
and wanting to be with it more
and more
and more.

The saddest people on earth
are those without
poetry in their souls.

But you know what?
If you don’t have poetry in your soul,
you can get it.

How?

Simply by wanting it
and seeking it,
.. and those who seek it,
will find it

and it is a treasure
that nobody
can take from you
for the rest of your life.

You could be
old and grey
and bed-ridden
and paralysed
and unable to speak -
but a bird alighting
on a branch
outside your window
can bring you
an exhilerating joy
unknown to those
without
poetry in their souls.

(30 May 2010)