Crossing Over Artistic Fences I was asked by a friend, a visual artist, what I thought about poetry and to explain why I write. Poetry asks us to consider our quality of life, the deeper perceptions of what lies before us, be it nature, people, emotions, morality or ideas. Poetry is one antidote to the “whatever” sentiment prevailing our lives in contemporary culture. Pascal said “the heart has its reasons that reason can only guess at.” For me to paint, perform dance, music, drama, to write poetry, to read it, to go to readings is a way of living emotionally in the world. There will always be those people who are suspicious of artists who express this form of “divine madness” as Plato called it. To them I repeat the old adage “yes, there is no money in poetry but then there is no poetry in money.” The assumption with the general public is that poetry is dead or at least in a coma. The truth is that all forms of artistic expression have managed to thrive and evolve their many forms in the face of all new methods of communication such as: Twitter, Face book, Instagram, Tick Tock, ... well you know what I mean. I’m happy to report that poetry and the arts are thriving right here in our “Small Apple” town of Brooklin, Ontario and right across this great country of ours, Canada. Mary Oliver says, “It is not what the words say, but how they make you feel.” So true! The heart always has its own reasons.
John Di Leonardo
“Canada Is” Triptych / Oil, 4’ X 12’, 2008.
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