First Sonnet from the New Collection Social Room: Modern Sonnets, Book Three.
Sonnet 204. The Stage for Important Activities. (One).
If a writer does not believe that his own writing is one of the most important activities going on in contemporary civilization then he ought to move on to something he thinks is.
Tom Wolfe.
The New Journalism.
Today’s youth are less interested in what happens around them than in what happens inside them. Laksmi Pamuntjak.
The Diary of R.S. Musings on Art.
These poems, polished to preserve the thoughts
I thought would keep for longer if they shone.
But what is it I care enough about
To think enough to build a poem from?
It’s true the briefest look into today
Can show me more important things to write
Than this. And I would not stand in the way
Of those who burn the stage to light the night
To hold a day’s attention to their cause;
Which may be just to show how much they feel
Or don’t feel. Wounds are licked to clean the sores.
But silenced voices screaming from the real,
To bring these to attention, get them heard,
I know no more important use for words.
Andrew Barker
4 окт 2024
