A Poetic Manifesto

I thought to share a vision of what I consider poetry to be;
to help explain my motives and my wordings as a poet,
be I competent or not.

This is not meant to be a poem, but my licence intruded on my words as I expressed them.

A Poetic Manifesto

Poetry is not about economies of words.
Poetry is about rhythm and flow and start and stop.
It is not about obscuring,
but about revealing.
It is not about being difficult,
but being profound.
It is not about being Original,
but sharing what was always there,
but hidden.

Poetry is about seeing and feeling,
and hearing and thinking,
and knowing and doubting,
and living and dying.

Poets share their soul with the world,
and hope the world listens and accepts.
Poets transform as shamans
into animals and things and people,
to see though other eyes.

To connect with a poem is to be a Poet.
A Poet sees the beauty even in despair;
The rhythm of life even in death.
A poem reports not facts,
but explores magic
in living, breathing words.
This is poetry.

Stephen F. Middleton 2nd July 2009

Maybe this magic is better expressed by another poet of greater renown

To see a world in a grain of sand,
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
And eternity in an hour.

William Blake
Auguries of Innocence (extract)

After reading that, I think I should cross out the "maybe" :)