Poetry May Not Be About Money, But It’s About Much More

When I was living or traveling in different countries, I would tell everyone I met that I was a poet. Almost every time, the person inquiring about me seemed genuinely delighted or impressed. This is because other countries revere their poets, which may sound unusual to many Americans. Poetry has contributed to social movements and even revolutions throughout history. Renowned Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish, for example, once read to a crowd of 25,000 people in a soccer stadium in Beirut. When my boyfriend (who is also a poet) and I were in Nicaragua, everyone respected our vocation because poetry played such a pivotal role in the Sandinista revolution.

Here, however, when people ask me what I do, the reaction is totally different. Most look at me with pity and/or disapproval in their eyes: “Oh this poor, naïve idiot. What does she think she’s going to accomplish by foolishly scribbling poems in her journal?” Our culture’s obsession with profit, status, and material wealth makes so many people believe that nothing is worthwhile unless it has monetary value. Why would you be wasting time with words when there is so much money to be had by selling your soul? Who needs a soul when you have lots and lots of stuff?

Art is necessary because it helps us makes sense of our human experience. Without it, our world would be completely drab and devoid of spirit. I imagine it might look like a gigantic McDonald’s. We’d likely speak with monosyllabic words. “Me want food. Put you car money. Me like burger good.” We’d probably eat nothing but different kinds of gruel and Big Macs for sustenance. Instead of museums, there would only be giant malls in which we’d admire the latest products while we obesely sat in hovering chairs like those poor souls in “Wall-E.”

I’m tired of having to explain the importance of art and defend my craft. What do people read at weddings and funerals? NASDAQ rates? Football scores and statistics? Dialogue from “The Real Housewives of Atlanta?” People turn to poetry in times of need and celebration. Please don’t think I’m some sort of simpleton for writing poetry, and then have someone read a poem at your wedding. Please don’t disparage this ancient art form, and then request that someone read a poem at your funeral. You can’t criticize the people who create the literature that brings you comfort.

I am not saying that I am some martyr or revolutionary because I write poetry. Far from it. I write because it feels like a bodily need, because I want to bring attention to certain issues and ideas through words, because I want to create more beauty in the world. If for some reason I couldn’t write, you’d probably find me in my apartment shaking in my Snuggie, drinking bourbon, and overdosing on fancy cheeses. Poetry makes life worth living for me. It keeps me sane. It is my existential life project.

A friend once told me she saw a sign that read, “There is no money in poetry, but there is no poetry in money.” What makes poetry so amazing is that it lives outside of the economy. The poet Reginald Sheperd wrote that “…its loss of ‘relevance’ is also a freedom to keep alive certain human possibilities.” Of course I plan to eventually live off of my writing somehow, but if I were really concerned with material wealth, I never would have chosen this vocation. I can’t expect everyone to love poetry as much as I do. I can’t convince everyone that art is crucial to our existence, but I do ask you to imagine what our world would look like without it.