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I understand the world by describing it

I think poetry is important because poetry surfaces the malleability and possibility of language. Through language we build our worldviews, and through language we communicate our worldviews. The difference between words and reality is stark, and what we say isn't true of the world, rather it reveals something of the truth of the world in a way that is useful/meaningful/fun.

Perhaps God is only a deep voice,
heard by the deaf,
I do not know.

The Poet Of Ignorance

by Anne Sexton

  1. Perhaps the earth is floating,
  2. I do not know.
  3. Perhaps the stars are little paper cutups
  4. made by some giant scissors,
  5. I do not know.
  6. Perhaps the moon is a frozen tear,
  7. I do not know.
  8. Perhaps God is only a deep voice,
  9. heard by the deaf,
  10. I do not know.
  12. Perhaps I am no one.
  13. True, I have a body
  14. and I cannot escape from it.
  15. I would like to fly out of my head,
  16. but that is out of the question.
  17. It is written on the tablet of destiny
  18. that I am stuck here in this human form.
  19. That being the case
  20. I would like to call attention to my problem.
  22. There is an animal inside me,
  23. clutching fast to my heart,
  24. a huge crab.
  25. The doctors of Boston
  26. have thrown up their hands.
  27. They have tried scalpels,
  28. needles, poison gases and the like.
  29. The crab remains.
  30. It is a great weight.
  31. I try to forget it, go about my business,
  33. cook the broccoli, open and shut books,
  34. brush my teeth and tie my shoes.
  35. I have tried prayer
  36. but as I pray the crab grips harder
  37. and the pain enlarges.
  39. I had a dream once,
  40. perhaps it was a dream,
  41. that the crab was my ignorance of God.
  42. But who am I to believe in dreams?