With the advent of ChatGPT and other programs it is sometimes difficult to discern authentic human writing. However, throughout human civilization one form of writing is uniquely connected to human experience, human cultures, human emotions and human idiosyncrasies. This form is called “Poetry” in English.
April is designated in the USA as “National Poetry Month”. Perhaps few know that there is an official Poet Laureate in the States. President Trump chose the masterful poet Joy Harjo. Joy Harjo is an American poet, musician, playwright, and author. She served as the 23rd United States Poet Laureate, the first Native American to hold that honor. She was also only the second Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to have served three terms. Her books include: Crazy Brave, How We Became Human, In Mad Love and War, Poet Warrior, She Had Some Horses, Weaving Sundown, The Spiral of Memory and other books with enticing titles. She is my favorite contemporary American poet.
I have cherished poets from different time periods and different countries I turn to when I may need a reassurance of human consciousness and the conditions which connect us all. These include Rilke, Rumi, Sara Teasdale, John O’Donohue, Dylan Thomas, Theodore Roethke, William Blake, Pablo Neruda, William Shakespeare, Sylvia Plath, Dante, Pushkin, Najat Najat, Yehuda Amichai, T.S. Eliot and so many others.
Since I was a child, I have written poetry as a means of the secret expressions of my soul and heart. As an adult I ventured forth into the world of literature and sent out my poems to magazines and anthologies. My work has been published since the 1970s. I did the rounds of poetry readings, open mics and poetry slams until about a decade ago when it all went too far into the commercial and social media realm. The privacy of poets trying out their new works was lost in the morass of digital cameras and videos of rehearsals released online. Often without permission.
So, as my personal offering to National Poetry Month and as a human being who writes my own words into forms described as poetic-I am posting my two poetry books which cover my personal experiences and emotions and those recounted to me or to which I bore witness. They cover more than 50 years of my life.
The first is “Kismet” by Jo Patti. My creative writing nom-de-plume/ pen name.
The second is “CLASH-Poems from Conflict Zones. Artwork by Denali Schmidt”.
These volumes are not for the fainthearted but they are heart felt.
May you find the words of poets a comfort, a question, a nod to your spirit and an engagement with another who you may never meet. A mystical and often irrational encounter.
Enjoy and promote National Poetry Month…while we still have some vestige of freedom to express our humanity.
Links to my books are on my website under the “Books” portal on the menu: JoPattiX website