A couple of days ago a friend asked me if I found it difficult to post my poems on the web as they often deal with personal experiences. Her question reminded me of a great quote I read, from a conference or seminar on the meaning of art. A questioner asked “what does art do that science and other disciplines don’t do?” “Teaches us to feel” was the immediate and brilliant answer, It was not a sound bite it has too much depth and gravitas so it is a quote. I would add it also teaches us to share our feelings. If you view my photo of a falcon on the images page I hope that you can share the thrill and wonder I felt when I saw the bird uttering voice. It was magnificent. I had to wait to get the shot but it is how I felt at the time. It is the same with my poems, I write and post them because I want readers to share my experience and feel how I did. They are, of course, often a family history which is important for different reasons. Poems that are imagined, not from personal experience also inevitably hold my feelings. The poem Roses is an example. My mind roams from hearing a gardener’s diatribe about the difficulty of nurturing roses to Greek myth and the violent birth of a rose through rape. The answer to my friend’s question is that when I first starting writing I was nervous of exposing myself but soon realised that most people are kind and generous and interested in what is being written. It is also interesting to me to hear of others experiences and feelings, another worthwhile reason to do it.
ART AND FEELINGS
