The Poetry of Mark Daniel Milbocker

I realize I am digressing from the post-a-poem-and-explain-it format for this forum, but I want to take a step back and think about the process itself.

Lately I've been asking myself: [i]why do I write poetry?[/i] Why write? and why specifically poetry?
The chat sessions and discussions about poetic voice have been food for thought as I reflect upon what writing means. Here are some reasons to write:

1. Writing is pleasurable.
The product can be good and beautiful in itself; or it can evoke emotions which are entertaining. Word tricks evoke an appreciation of cleverness, not unlike the response to humor. And while the process can be draining, the euphoria of completion is a sweet catharsis.

2. It is self-validating to speak with one's voice.
Who doesn't like to hear one's own ego? It's like going out shopping and exerting one's power of choice to select products - word choice is free yet is an exercise in our freedom to choose. And seeing a body of one's work validates one's personal identity and leaves a legacy of intellectual offspring.

3. It invites the response of others.
Writing opens an opportunity for dialogue. It touches others and allows you to be touched. It is human on so many levels and is an act of sharing in virtue of its getting out of one's head. It can be a vehicle of love in its deepest form, and it allows a more dynamic range of communication.

Why specifically poetry?
Poetry, the art of form reflecting meaning in writing, allows there to be more than just a surface level and has historically has been one of the great cultural forums of human experience. I think of the movie, Contact, when Jodie Foster is whisking across the universe in scientific awe and says, "they should have sent a poet."

THE NEXT CHAPTER
These meditations are nice and well; perhaps you agree, perhaps not, and I'm sure each of us would have much to add.
But lately I've been considering something more.
While poetry is the deepest form of communicating what one perceives, and allows an alternate state of being...being the poet, with an existential view of what really is...
Does it not also allow us to change who we are?

I often let the poem lead me on an adventure. I revel in the power of words to transport us any where any time to any perspective. But can poetry be an opportunity for lucid dreaming? I am just discovering that I can take control of the process and choose what I want to see. Whether this is actually true or just arrogance, I'm not sure. But, the power to envision changes the future. The thoughts I choose shape my behavior and demeanor. Where I spend my time in the poetic world of reflecting in total freedom says a lot about who I am. And it also frees me to move in a new direction.

I find my voice whenever I stop asking if I am speaking. Poetry is both a chaos of primal utterances of emotion and a structured speech of artificial craft. And while my voice wanes superficial and self-conscious when I consider my audience, I don't need to abandon my intention of writing just to prove I am writing freely. As poets we practice a craft of exercising our freedom - not just to pursue pleasure or to free ourselves therapeutically from pain or to hear we still have a voice or to dispel the loneliness of not being heard. We wield the incredible emotional and intellectual power to be ourselves and to be human. We love; we give; we create. We are.

My poetry has taken a turn. Because I no longer try to capture the moment - I am in motion! And I am awakening to the possibility that writing poetry is more than just a deeper perception and act of self or socializing. I can terraform the world I live in by choosing to explore the best parts of my imagination and to join in the wider dialogue - both historical and present. In the richness and diversity of truth and beauty, there is perhaps a more potent charm to life than the constant din of pursuits of immediate gratification. And while the short and intense experience of writing a single poem can provide immediate gratification, the pursuit of a wider world beyond oneself can be a craft built with the bricks of each poetic vision one on top of the other, bringing not only the body of work alive, but transforming the person writing.

Now, many were the I's used in this questioning of "Why do we write poetry?" And hopefully that will not put you off in considering these thoughts. But I wish to share my excitement of being a poet and invite your view of why we do what it is we do.
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