We text, we tweet, and we Facebook, but do we lyricize?
Plato argued that “Poetry comes nearer to vital truth than history,” and Robert Fitzgerald contended that “Poetry is at least an elegance and at most a revelation.” In our fast-paced, high-speed internet lives we have become expert at rapidly ingesting information and quickly forming first impressions. But how often do we pay attention? Poetry is an art form that demands that we slow down; it isn’t predictable or easily ingested, but it can change the way we see the world. At DePaul University’s Collaborative for Multilingual Writing and Research, we also see poetry as an opportunity to glimpse the complex fabric of other cultures and to see the ways in which the experience of being human often transcends borders and boundaries. We are celebrating National Poetry Month by sharing poems from all over the world in the original and in translation. Our first installment is a selection from Russian poet Vera Pavlova.
Why is the word YES so brief?
It should be
the longest,
the hardest,
so that you could not decide in an instant to say it,
so that upon reflection you could stop
in the middle of saying it . . .
Have a favorite poem? Join us in celebrating National Poetry Month and share it here.