Poem in defense of poetry, and suburbia (since poetry is today's hot topic)

[nolabear]

So, I had occasion this year to come to the defense of the art of poetry as an important part of a particular town's identity. Since the town in question was being condescended to by the Big City arts scene with such comments as "Oh, please, does it even have a soul?" I wrote this in response. I think it speaks to the importance of the art and to how it helps us to get through life.

Poetry in the Suburbs

We don’t need poetry in the suburbs, here.
We have drive-thru, and take-out, and delivery
And that is plenty.
We have no midnights, where fear grows teeth
and no daylight to pull them; we have burglar alarms.
No ball ever bounces foul here, no hero quails.
We have X-Box.
No mother sits vigil by her child’s bed at night,
her chest so tight she hitches her breath
and offers everything she has,
everything she will ever have,
grasping for the words to make the promise
and the strength to say it—“Please.”
We don’t need poetry here.
No girl’s heart peers out from beneath the thorn bush of her discontent;
No colt-legged boy wears his like a beacon, or a chain.
We have free parking, and mowed lawns,
And the smell of new paving never leaves the air.
And if the tattered man at the off ramp, holding a sign
“Homeless—Will work—Anything helps—God Bless”
Makes us tremble and look away, we don’t need a way to say to him,
“If what I think of you is wrong, I am most humbly sorry,”
Nor a way to go home afterward,
and say to one another, over and over again, like poets do,
how easily it all can be, will be, lost.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

1. do you think they got it? did the poem create the impact that you desired?

doesn't matter where we live, we all have needs.

[nolabear]

4. Well, the people for whom it was written seem to get it.

By that I mean the folks in the "suburbs". Since I was writing it in support rather than as a weapon I was happy they respond positively, and haven't paid any mind to the others.

[Haole Girl]

2. I love it!

And, I agree-- Art does help us get through life.

[MiddleFingerMom]

3. I'm not worthy!!!!!!!

(edit to add the final line)
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If you're NOT making money with your poetry... and this is
representative of what you produce... it is ONLY because
you're not marketing yourself.
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No complaints.
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No critiques.
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Not even one single suggestion.
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Just wow.
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I suggest the Mt. Everest of publications for submission -- The New Yorker.
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[nolabear]

5. Thanks, Boss. I've considered that, and may do it.

I appreciate your compliment. To tell you the truth, I do make a little money with it, and you're also right that I need to submit more. But then all of us who believe in an art and practice it should submit more, eh?

[MiddleFingerMom]

6. I plead guilty as insinuated. n/t

[nolabear]

7. Hah! My work here is done.