by Hayley Solich

Created on: December 09, 2008

They say that along with artists, poets are like mirrors to society, reflecting the inner state of the nation. If you remove them, then you have no reflection, no voice telling the real story of the times.

I see in my own world this is true. Without the lyrical, the magical flow of pen to paper, of thought into image into verse, my world would be stark and void.

Poetry is not just a nice little habit for people with nothing better to do, it is solace for the soul. It serves a very real purpose in our society and particulalry in the life of the individual, because poetry is personal it doesn't have to be perfect. It is emotion put onto paper, just like a painting and cannot be judged effectively by anyone other than the artist. Why? Because it is their reflection of the emotions, of the image they are seeking to create. It is their creative expression.

When I think about my own life and the files full of poetry that I wrote through the years where I struggled with being abandoned by my parents after being molested as a child, then the loss of my two grandmothers a week apart and my mother in a car accident later that same year, I am so grateful that I was able to express myself through poetry. Imagine all that grief still stored up inside of me, without a conduit to unburden myself. The dam probably would have burst, well and truly.

I am so grateful for the opportunity to express myself through poetry and I beieve that it has a very valid role to play in society and it is a skill that should be better recognised and appreciated.

Anyone who has ever put pen to paper to create the perfect piece will be able to verify that it is no mean feat to create something sublime and poets deserve the highest honour!

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