‘Why do we have to read poetry?’

‘Read it and you will know why. If you still don’t know, read it again.’

Some of them took the things she said to heart, as she had done once when they were said to her. She was helping them assume their humanity.

‘People have always made poetry,’ she told them. ‘Trust that it will matter to you.’

… Some of them did listen. This seemed to her to be perfectly miraculous.”

How do we assume our humanity – as individuals; as societies? What is it about listening to the heart of another that helps to shape our own? What is it about seeing the world through the eyes of another that stretches our soul beyond its stingy boundaries? Continue reading →