Does poetry play a role in social change?
Adrienne Rich:
Yes, where poetry is liberative language,
connecting the fragments within us,
connecting us to others like and unlike ourselves,
replenishing our desire.
It’s potentially catalytic speech because it’s more than speech:
it is associative, metaphoric, dialectical, visual, musical;
in poetry words can say more than they mean and mean more than they say.
In a time of frontal assaults both on language and on
human solidarity, poetry can remind us of all we are in
danger of losing – disturb us, embolden us out of resignation.
