Reasons To Read Poetry (Poetry)

What is the purpose of poets?
What is the function they serve?
How do their rhymes fit with reason
as words strike the questioning nerve?

How do they stir such emotion
and where did they come by this art?
Who was the intrepid explorer
dared map the first verse to its heart?

The ode’s crossed the globe in its travels
the sonnet’s been long-set in stone
the Mariner’s tale’s never over
while minds have a notion to roam

Since history labels them famous
and libraries give them some space
we’re taught to revere reputations
and learn to put rhythm in place

But what’s the true purpose of poets
and why do we cling to their lines?
What is it they tell us about us
that fixes and clearly defines

what it is to be thoroughly human? —
How we strive, how we stumble and fall
How we fight when the odds are against us
still believing that Love conquers all

The poet is there to remind us
who we are — what we feel — what we see
in a world full of noise and confusion
he’s the voice rising honest and free