That unnoticed & that necessary
Your monthly roundup - Pride-ish edition
Happy Pride, friends!
I posted a photo of me and Vika on Notes and immediately got trolled by some bigot telling me to “stay away from children,” so we’re starting the month off right!
I've been thinking about poetry. Particularly when the "debate" comes up (as it tends to) about whether poetry is necessary, especially in times of great strife and uncertainty.
(It is and it isn't. If you're starving, a poem will not feed you. But then again, it might.)
We don't need poetry. What we need is relief from pain. What we need is to grieve. What we need is to know we're not alone. That’s what poetry does.
Pain is horrendous. It's not only difficult to experience, it's extremely difficult to put into words.
To quote Sarah Manguso: "Depression is hard to describe not just because it's complex and abstract, but also because it occupies the part of us capable of describing things."
This is why we have poetry (and music and art, generally). It translates our…