That’s a great question! A poet is an artist whose medium is words – the patterns, sounds, rhythms, conventions, and meanings. We paint pictures with our words, convey messages through the following or breaking of the rules and conventions. And like all artists our job is to elicit a reaction. Whether that reaction is to think, feel or act, we are navigating the space us. Make no mistake, the platform we create also creates a privileging of our voices.
It was thinking about the nature of poetry and the job of the poet that kicked off the writing of this poem. Spoiler Alert: it doesn’t resolve the issue of the privilege that our platform affords us.
I am
I am a manipulator of words
An amateur magician
My sleight of phrase the spell I cast
As I try to draw you in.
I reside in a parallel universe
Searching for the means to survive
Creating a light in the darkness
As I try to make you realise.
I am a breaker of codes
who thinks I can command
Words in the correct combinations
That will make you understand.
I am a long distance lover
A voice travelling down the line
I cannot touch you or see you
But I will try to make you sigh.
Angele Toomey Poetry 