A Poem Wants You to Be Broken
by Ben Gucciardi
At ease the mind is free of need
for poetry. In owl song,
it hears owl song.
A poem wants you to be broken
and alone when it finds you,
so it can show you how it sees
your clenched fist opening,
the small, contoured feather
you’ve carried all along.
I love this choice of poem. There’s a potential within us that’s easy and light and opening ourselves up and releasing tension frees that lightness. Art—poetry specifically—allows us to soften and has the capability of reaching us and revealing to us its hidden meanings most of all when we are emotionally vulnerable and in search of something sympathetic.