The Poet’s Shoes

(Nowadays

To understand some poetry, or poets, one must have experienced what the poet hasidentical experiences; or you must be shaped like the poet, the exceptions are from the old school of poetryone shoe fits all (thus, understanding the theme, plot and insight of poetry becomes much easier); from the contemporary scene, you must have the same shoe size of the poet to understand where the poet is leading you, and in poetry the poet should have a destination for the readerlest he doesn’t care (and he should).

The poet survives perhaps because he or she is oblivious (or not connected so much) to the world, and all its compulsions (suicide is often on the other side of this coin, if not drugs and alcohol).

Poetry has accomplished something if it causes one to mull over it; stretching this a little further, there is (it seems) coming a day (not so far off in the future), when poets will not even need to know a thing about literature (most don’t today); yet poetry is (or should be) considered the highest form of literature.

Most poets write about love and deathwhich perhaps are the two main ingredients (or themes) to poetry; some write on social issues, which make for bad poetry; but it is “Beauty” that shines above everything, and that is often, too often over looked in place of self-interest, or a combination of negative delirious confusing thoughts put into writing by a poet under the influence of some kind of chemical. One can get a high off the beauty that surrounds them.

Last words: we as poets should not forget, we influence people, young people in particular, and owe an obligation to (if not duty to), set a good example by the way we live and write.

Written in the Plaza de Armas, Huancayo, Peru, 10:00 AM, Wednesday, 9-19-2006

Note: Read by Eduardo Cardenas Jr. on the Radio Universitaria (UNCP-Universidad Nacional del Centro del Peru) Huancayo, Peru; also Publisher in the “Primicia”, issue dated 1 October, 2006

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