Poetry originated in the beginning: in the creation myths and tribal lore, song, dance and religion that are fundamental to life and abide in the heart and soul of any people, any time, anywhere. Poets were akin to medicine men and priests as they composed to evoke an abundant harvest, sanctify a birth, wedding, coronation or death, and map the farthest reaches of human vision and imagination.
To the promethean Shelley, poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world. To the maestro Ezra Pound, the antennae of the race.
The stakes are far higher than mere art and entertainment, but over the decades this got all but completely lost in postmodern debasement, business and career interests, academe, the plague of narcissism and metastasis of craft malpractice—but high poetry can yet dust off the language, rebirth the music, reveal divine light, and return words to the magical possibilities they invoke in our consciousness where spirits unite across space and time to form more perfect moments in our one and only present.
John Feins will read original, unpublished poetry live on Friday 16 April
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