The Politics of Poetry

The singing of place is essential to our being. It preserves our essence. Indigenous Australians know this and so do poets. As for politics and poetry,  Yeats has a lot to answer for with his line for poetry makes nothing happen. It could shake your belief in poetry. I'll have to come back to you with the actual poem.

Adrienne Eberhard says the very best place writing 'sings' a place, in her essay 'The Politics of Poetry' published online in Zest. She talks about world poetry, times of exile and alienation, and shares her changing view of the activism and poetry mix. It's worth visiting for her poetry alone.

There is nothing like having your own foot in the sod, but I believe that experiencing/witnessing from afar through poetry (writing or reading) can make a difference. Anyway, we can't all be on the razor wire - we'd just get in the way.