What is The Role of a Poet?

A poem by C.J. Heck

“Anatomy of a Poet”, was written over the course of more than fifty years. It’s a compilation of autobiography, memoir, and observations of places, people, situations, and experiences, real or imagined.

Here is a poem from the book:

The Role of a Poet
by C.J. Heck
 
To say what others cannot 
is truly a mark of greatness. 
But have all the noble poems 
been written by classical masters 
and the gifted poets of today?
 
Are there meaningful works 
still left to pen, 
not merely big words 
from swollen egos 
spilling their contents 
at the whim of a moment, 
nor with simplistic 
meanderings of joy, 
or grief or love?
 
To answer my question, 
I say write on, dear poets. 
Allow not your words 
to decay unwritten 
in brilliant minds  
where they'll lie barren 
and unread only to wither 
or crack or parch 
as clay in the desert.
 
I do believe there are jewels 
left to be written.
 
But if we must write,
it should be for the future, 
for the common man 
who will gain most 
from poetic lines 
he cannot write.
 
We have an obligation 
to write in a way 
that he may glean 
what he can from writings 
of poetic merit, 
not stumble through 
obscure words which are, 
to him, as bird droppings 
on a splintered windowsill, 
left to die in obscurity 
gathering nothing but dust.
 
If we must write, 
let us write for those 
who are unable, 
so the future might find 
our words alive and fertile, 
their tilled soil begun 
as thoughts and feelings 
first seeded in keen minds, 
then sown to black and white, 
rich and fresh and lush, to live 
on in future hearts and minds 
even as we crumble, ashes to ashes, 
and blow away, dust to dust.
 
May poets always write 
not to say what we can all say, 
but what most cannot,
not just for now, 
but for forever.


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Poet/Writer/Author of 5 books.
Quora Top Writer 2018.
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