to coax an inquisitive soul...
and the notebook, turned to a new page,...
I wrote: happiness! it is December, very cold"
- Happiness by Robert Hass* (PoLau '95-'97)
I love this poem because this is how I want to feel about every single day. Not so much the very cold part, but the rest of the poem. It isn't spectacular in some earth shattering way; it's just nice. And honestly, common life is pretty extraordinary and wonderful.
Hass said that "poets have a moral responsibility to make and refresh...images of common life." I think that's incredibly accurate. Poetry has the ability to do this is a way that no other artistic medium can. A pretty sunset, a kid's ice cream smudged face, a house on fire, a hooker. Everything has something beautiful about it that poets need to point out to everyone else because not everyone sees it right away.
*From The Poets Laureate Anthology
, published by W.W. Norton in association with the Library of Congress. Poem copyright Robert Hass.
