Poetry has been called by some, a window into the human being, deeply concerned with telling what it feels like to be alive. Poets have been called the most intimate relaters of the meaning of humankind. Poetry quintessentially tells of the soul's adventure on the earth plane. Ultimately, poetry has been deemed mythology. It might be categorized with things pertaining to the intuition, the spirit, the soul. Many people write poetry, read poetry, and embrace poetry. Others cannot attain unto it; it is too high for them. Poetry has been associated with radicals, revolutionaries, weirdoes, beatniks, and Bohemians.

Poetry is controversial. It does not fit a particular form, or it might be held to standard. Poetry is freedom. It can rhyme, or it can reason. It might simply be a one-liner. It is profound. Some are frightened by its unconventionality. Poetry cannot be put in a box. Poetry tells a story. It sings a song. Poetry is prayer. It expresses rage! It is love. Since poetry cannot be corralled, this can be problematic for those who function strictly according to conformity. Poetry is powerful.

Poetry might also be categorized as mystical experience, intuitive knowledge of a larger reality, based on personal experience that convinces the recipient of its accuracy. It is given to the poet as a gift, by the muse. Poetry is a gift, which must be given to others. It [poetry] is the by-product of perception and intuitive knowing. Poetry resides in the realms of the esoteric, pragmatism, beauty and truth. As far as the understanding of the many facets of poetry is concerned, only they that have the spirit, recognize the spirit. Poetry is a higher--calling.

Poetry draws or repels. It is a propellant in the regions of the soul. Poetry is holy, and emanates from Polyhymnia, the giver of sacred songs. Poetry is profane! It howls and barks the profane utterances of gangsta rappers, issuing from the evil one. It extols pornography, pimp--slapping, and the degradation of women. Poetry is perceptive. Perceivers remember and concepts cease to exist with no one is left to remember them, as typified in the poem, "Always," "The great forgetters… Everything gone… The cold zero of perception."

Poetry, as is art, is a revelatory medium, spiritual experience, search for the truth. Novelist, Mary Gordon says, "The whole truth cannot be told." Poet, Linda Pastan, says, "Literal truth is not necessary to tell a truth," as she expounds upon the universal truths regarding birth and women [crowning birth]. She relates her experience with negative feedback from women regarding her poem, "Notes From the Delivery Room." when they [the women] discovered the universal truth she touted in her poem, were not of her own experience, but merely common to womankind. Pastan says, "Poets lie, to tell the truth." Essentially, we miss other possibilities for knowledge, if we discount intuition [poetry, mystical knowledge]. The challenge for the poet, as with the artist, is to re-sensitize the poetry-phobic, the poetically challenged, and to stir their imaginations and intrigue them. Words and concepts often get in the way of how we experience reality, and often tends to limit. Poets experience the presence of the muse individually and that inner - knowing, intuition, and perception requires no outside warranty [justification] for their [poets] truth claims. Poets use words, like color, to paint vivid images. Like the Koran, the Zen riddle, fashioned to stop rational discursive thought, in order to permit or force the direct experience of reality, a poem has the same power, to transport one into realms of realities. Like Catherine of Sienna, of stigmata - fame, who used God [faith] as warranty for her personal truth claims, poetry is its own warranty for the poet's truth claims. Poetry, a creative act, speaks to us collectively as human beings. It allows the poet and reader alike, to tap into the collective unconscious, to aid in understanding our humanity. By listening to our unconscious [ness], we can become conscious, personally and collectively, via poetry.

Poetry embodies perception, power, the mystical, in our earth - bound state. Poetry is a gift. []