Language helps us construct and respond to our reality. Much of what we learn is a product of the verbal information — whether spoken or written — we process our daily lives, and we use language to respond to what we process as well.
Consequently, the words we hear, read, write and say play a crucial role in shaping both the present and the future of our society.
With this in mind, we should acknowledge the ability of verbal art forms, like poetry, to affect social change. It is exactly this idea, as well as the celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, that prompted the College Arts and Humanities Institute to put on an event called “Poésia Now! The Power of Poetry in Our Lives.”
And so, at 7:30 p.m. Friday, the people who filled the burgundy seats of the Buskirk-Chumley Theater were united by one thing: a love of poetry.
They were gathered there to hear a reading of the poems of Juan Felipe Herrera, the current poet laureate of the United States, and to ask him questions about his craft. Herrera is America’s 21st poet laureate, and he is notably the first Latino to be honored with the position, which he took in June 2015.
Herrera is known as much for his activism as his poetry, and he combined the two to create a national poetry project called “La Casa de Colores” (“The House of Colors”) that encourages Americans of all backgrounds to contribute their voices to a national epic poem in celebration of poetry’s ability to foster unity.
At Friday’s reading, Herrera even chose to recite a poem called “World Unity Salsa,” and invited audience members to chant the poem back to him as he read it line by line. This unexpected participatory component was an appropriate complement to the poet’s jovial and inclusive spirit.
And yet, when the question and answer segment of the evening arrived, one young woman approached a microphone stationed in the audience and asked Herrera about the legitimacy of his poetry. She wanted to know if he thought his work was really capable of positively impacting the issues about which he cares so deeply.
As he said then and as I will say now: of course it does. In his answer, Herrera spoke of the people he has met in his travels as poet laureate, and of the stories they told him. He spoke of the hard questions they asked him and admitted that he did not have the answers.
“It’s going to be uncomfortable,” he said. “But that’s why we have to talk about it.”
Poetry can be a spark that can ignite such conversations — the ones that teach us about each other and convince us to reject apathy in favor of empathy.
While it is important to examine and question even our most ardent beliefs, the result of this examination is clear: poetry has power.
We say that art imitates life. We ought not to forget that art can change life, too.
mareklei@umail.iu.edu
@foreverfloral97
