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About How Poetry Can Transform Our Lives

Jane Hirshfield believes that poetry can play a transformative role in our lives. “What poems are doing is counterbalancing the mainstream tenor of our culture, which is to do, to be active, to be energetic and to prove one’s self… and one of the messages underlying all poems that move us is that we have nothing at all to prove.” She offers her perspective on beauty and how it cannot exist alone. She takes us behind the scenes into the mind of the poet, and treats us to some of her own poems and her thinking behind them. She also reminds us that a reader can benefit from a poem without knowing what the poet is thinking, but by thinking for him- or herself. Poetry encourages us to ask questions, open up to the unknown, and see our vulnerabilities. Her own process includes the constant practice of questioning, searching, and listening. Poems can present life to us through a different lens, she says. “One of the things that poetry helps us with is to remain open to what is not sure, what is not guaranteed, what makes us feel vulnerable.”