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Poets Have Big Balls
Girls Want Porn Too Bear with me a minute. It happened online in one of those places where flame wars erupt in a heartbeat and take years to extinguish. The subject of the tirades doesn't matter - it can't, because I don't remember it. The arguments broke every rule of reasoned debate - ad hominem attacks, spurious facts, circular arguments, unlogical logic. And then Armande posted a response which became legend. I can't quote it verbatim, but it went something like this:

I'm right. I'm right because I'm smarter than you and better than you. I'm right because you're wrong and I know that you're wrong because I'm smarter than you. I'm smarter than you because I am right and you are wrong. I'm always right because you are always wrong because I know what I'm talking about and if you don't understand what I'm saying it's because you're not smart enough to understand what I'm talking about. I'm right because I say I'm right, and since I'm always right, I must be right about being right. If you don't believe I'm right, it's because you haven't got all the facts yet, and the only fact that matters is the fact that I'm right.

Mostly, though, I'm right because I have big balls. I have great, big, huge balls. I have balls that are bigger than the earth and the moon combined. My balls are fucking huge, and that is why I am always right.


So what does this have to do with poetry? Simple. Poets have big balls. Don't believe it? It's true. We are poets because we have the balls to believe that what we write matters - not just to us, but to others. Just like Armande was right because he had the balls to stand up and say it, we make our words matter by having the pure stones to believe that they do.

And because we believe it, it is true. I don't mean individually - I'm not arrogant enough to believe that something that I write can change the world - or even a life. But there is power in words, power in poetry - power to make people think, to make people feel, to move people to action. Poetry is insidious. It creeps into people's minds, infects their spirits, elevates their ideas and ideals. I'm talking about capital P Poetry, here, people.

If you don't believe in the power of poetry, then go read the lives of Anna Ahkmatova, Gyorgy Faludy, Woeser. Go recite the words, "Shoot if you must this old gray head" almost anywhere in the U.S., and see how many can respond with the next line. Imagine Farenheit 451 brought to life, imagine people memorizing the latest work of a poet so that they can recite it to a friend, who can recite it to a friend - because it is forbidden for that poet to write down their poetry. It's real. It's happened.

If you don't believe in the power of poets to move mountains, then explain why governments fear them enough to forbid their writing and burn their poems, why they have used blackmail to force poets to write poems in praise of their policies.

This is true of other writing, of course. It's true of music and songs that stir the emotions of people - but then, what's a song but a poem with music? It's true of novels and essays and literature - but poetry has a way of sinking into someone's bones - the well-chosen word or phrase that becomes a rallying cry for a generation.

These are extreme examples. Few - very very few - poets will ever write a poem that inspires an entire nation. But there are smaller transformations happening every day when a poem touches in the right spot - and the wonder of it is that you never know who or what your poem will touch.

Am I being grandiose and melodramatic? Call it poetic license. Call it hubris. Call it a very bad case of inflated self-importance. I call it balls. Poetry matters because poets have the balls to believe that it does - the balls to demand that others believe it along with them. Poetry matters because poets have big enough balls to put what they believe in writing and put it out there for others to read.

Okay. That's my soapbox. Now here's my promise. GotPoetry has been gracious (and possibly foolish) enough to give me this soapbox every week. I promise that I won't bore you with rants too often. My aim is to amuse your muse with exercises, challenges, information and just plain old stuff to chew on. I intend to have fun. I hope you do, too.

Submitted by chameleon on Wednesday, September 13, 2006 (10:05:00) (2116 reads)

"Features: Poets Have Big Balls" | Login/Create an Account | 13 comments
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Re: Poets Have Big Balls (Score: 1 )
by jonathanchin on Wednesday, September 13, 2006 (07:31:16)
quite a while back, I realized that if I had any chance to change the world, it would be through my poetry.

that sentiment has spurred me along more and redoubled my conviction than I can count.


Re: Poets Have Big Balls (Score: 1 )
by crlpr11 on Wednesday, September 13, 2006 (09:14:09)
When I was in high school, my english teacher told me that I was lucky because I "think in poetry." So I feel like all of the things I do are laced with it, from my other writing to my organizing, and any good call to arms is poetic in essence.

The dictionary says that poetry is "the art of rhythmical composition, written or spoken, for exciting pleasure by beautiful, imaginative, or elevated thoughts." Anyone who hears the "I Have a Dream" speech or sees the photo of the woman lying over the body of a fallen student at Kent State or even Leni Reifenstahl's "Triumph of the Will" and doesn't see poetry isn't looking hard enough. Poetry changes the world every day.


Re: Poets Have Big Balls
by Anonymous on Wednesday, September 13, 2006 (23:18:39)
Congrats on your first column, and please accept my own compliments on the subject and thoughts you crafted to share with us. Smile While I can take guesses as to your response to Armande during the discussion, what I appreciate more is how you can take that snippet of experience and extract new meanings and thoughts from it, crafting something worth sharing as a means of expressing a way to see poets.

Always have said you have a wonderful way with words. Looking forward to what else you write.

- Mike


Re: Poets Have Big Balls (Score: 1 )
by aeraelle on Saturday, September 16, 2006 (18:14:37)
So,
I go to UofM flint, Michigan.
And,
we are currently working on a new musical written by two local people about the life and work of Allen Ginsburg.
This post resonates with me, especially since I'm working on this piece about my favorite poet whose name is virtually unrecognized by the common person.
Art is powerful. Poetry is powerful.
Thanks for this.
w00t.


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