The Poetic Kind of True
“The stories begin in kinds of truth. As events recede in time,
they grow not smaller but larger in language. The ancestor who
fought locally becomes a hero in a battle which assumes
the scale of the epic.” ~ Michael Schmidt, The First Poets, 9
The poet makes life truer, makes it large
As it is meant to be. The poet makes
Our history higher. This provides the charge
That it deserves. The Everest language shakes
The past as if volcanic, lava’s spew
Writ hotter in an earthquake realm of love
Or war. The poet’s panoramic view
Is like the three dimensional above
The landscape of the long ago. The lens
Is clearer, or at least it seems to be.
Its focus peels away the small to cleanse
Or shows the small with male intensity.
..The epic eyes of poetry are blue,
….As vast as Greek skies, truer than the true.
This sonnet is also included in the sequence called “Lyric Greece” embedded in this Encyclopedia Sonnetica.