Poetry as defined by the dictionary is imaginative language or composition, expressed rhythmically or in prose, sometimes involving meter, rhyme, and verse. I suppose if you wanted to be technical that would suffice, but what does it really mean? Poetry is a way of looking at life. It's the difference between being stuck in traffic during heavy rains and thinking, “This sucks. I'm going to be late,” and thinking the big, fat drops pummeling the roof of your car sound like corn popping in a metal pot, and the windshield wipers are slapping to the beat of your favorite dance tune. Poetry, like the flint that sparks the fire, ignites something in us, makes a pause and think, “Yes, that's it. I see it.” I've heard Muhammad Ali is credited with writing the shortest poem— just two words: Me. We. A world of possibility lives in those two words. That is the meaning of poetry.
~Elise Skidmore ©2020
