Guest post - Ben Ditmars on poetry, art and the beauty of the mundane

Today's beautifully lyrical guest post is brought to you by Ben Ditmars, author of Haiku in the Night.

Ben says:

 

I think there are many misconceptions about poetry.  I have heard that it is solely reflective and reactive and that it cannot accomplish ends in itself.  I see poetry, and all art, as much more.  We do not waste time writing about the world and what it could become.  Rock and roll did not waste time.  Painters and philosophers did not waste time.  We are creating a vision and potential future.  We are forging new ideas and blazing trails.  Authors, poets, and painters have done this tirelessly throughout recorded history.  But art is seldom appreciated in the way real jobs are.  It never has been, and people will always judge you if you aren’t rich doing it. 

I attend poetry reads and feel the same rebellious fire I once felt at rock concerts.  There are voices from men, women, young, and old that resonate.  The mundane often becomes beautiful through passion and comparison.  I think writing and poetry have taken on society as well and people are listening through SoundCloud, podcasts, Facebook, Twitter, poetry bars, and open mics.  It is a movement as much as an art form.  But what art form isn’t movement? 

The value of emotion and change are ultimately worth more than plastic cards or scraps of paper from a dead-end job.  They will endure and bring light for centuries to come.  Money will change hands and fade back into the earth knowing desire but not love.  And that is why I write, because it fills me with love.  We are alive when the light shines on our heart and the writers, poets, teachers, philosophers, and dreamers will live on forever through their inspiration.

Haiku in the Night is available at AMAZON.