I believe poetry is the highest of mankind’s literary achievements, timeless, appealing down the ages, revealing imagery of the poet’s struggles and experiences, stresses and joys, passions of love, navigating life with determination and purpose. Poetry is word paintings, full of colours, bright and dark, that create from a few words images to inspire the imagination and enhance memories.
Poets use experiences and emotions, often raw and painful, sharing visions, good and bad times, relationships, family, friends and lovers. I myself compose best in spiritual pain — poems forged white hot, hammered out upon the anvil of anguish, exploring being part of the human race, the adventures of being in love, and suffering a broken heart, searching for God and meaning to the great mysteries of the Universe.
Poetry should have a beat like the steady beat of a drum, the poet painting a word picture seen only in the mind, giving so much more than the words on the page. The Chinese say a picture is worth a million words. This is also true with a poem, the springboard into the poet’s soul.