“Times are hard for dreamers,” says a character in one of my favorite movies, “Amelie.” As I watched it the other day, I couldn’t help but notice the relevance of that statement in our present time. As focus the the realm of education proceeds in shifting away from the arts, and as President Trump plans to cut funding for arts and humanities, it is imperative that we make room for visual arts, music and — in honor of national poetry month — a little poetry.
Poetry is a craft that has been largely forgotten by the masses. Besides high school students in English classes, the area of academia focused on the matter and other poets, there are few who read poetry for leisure. Yet there is so much value in this art that allows readers to peek into the human soul.
I enjoy poetry because I nerd out with words and I love the way language can be manipulated to stimulate all five senses. But there’s more.
Poetry, and all arts, really, does something the rest of subjects and professions, as noble and useful as they may be, cannot do: It appeals to beauty, which all humans long for, to make connections. Between the writer and the reader, the painter and the viewer, the musician and the listener, is an intimate relationship that surpasses time and space.
The raw and personal nature of poetry exposes the heart of a writer, but it also reveals the state of history and culture of said writer through something intimately specific. By reading a poem we exercise our creative juices while participating in different stories and learning — if even a little — about them.
Poetry knows no boundaries. I’ve been reading a collection of poems by the Mojave American poet Natalie Diaz. Through her poetry I, a European living in America, have felt more connected to the Native American experience than ever before.
This is why under oppressive regimes, reading and writing have always been small acts of rebellion, and it’s also why in times of friction such as this one, we cannot forget about the arts, or underestimate the power picking up some poetry might have.
Letizia Mariani can be reached at mari8259@stthomas.edu