Poetry is a Feeling

Part 3 of Understanding Poetry

When it comes to understanding poetry, feeling is an essential ingredient. Nathan's spiritual blog, Walls Come Down, “feels” us in with poetic words and insight:

II.

in the dark,
writhing with ecstasy
in light rain drops

This is a movement away from thought, to feeling. It is a move away from structures in which distractions are embedded. Both in writing and reading, we are peeling away what we are not. What's underneath? We need a willingness to see things directly, for what they are. It doesn't matter if you 'understand it' or not. It's more about what you feel.

For Matt

Why should we not
laugh
and grow
like leaves
on trees
in forests careening
roots through buds
to blooming
falling
loving
dancing
singing moving,
floating on
and through?