A Brief Reply / Joshua Alan Sturgill
Frequently, I am asked, “Why do you write poetry?”
Here is the reason:
I am recording a long journey into God,
and this record cannot be made in any other form.
Other forms exist, but none are as honest
about their limitations.
Poetry acknowledges that words are not stones,
but gestures dressed in sound.
In the mode of poetry, I consider:
What sights do the godward see along the way?
What confirmations should they look for?
What are the consequences of failing to travel,
or of traveling in the wrong direction,
or of traveling unprepared?
What meaning and use are our bodies and our minds
if not as paper and plume for preserving our history?
Poetry puts memory, reason and imagination
at the service of the heart.
I am a stenographer; descriptions are my shorthand.
This is why I write poetry:
I’m leaving a trail of breadcrumbs that will become a trail of birds.
I’m graffitiing the Narrow Gate.
I’m stretching out a thread
through the Labyrinth of Providence
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